
1* 

'+4 




BC»T JVITE 22,1680. BIE3J) JURE 2, l?54o 

FR01CAN ORIGINAL PAINTING- IN THE POSSESSION OF 
ROBERT SIMP SON ESC EDTSBTJRGB1 



THE LIFE AND DIARY 

OF THE REVEREND 

EBENEZER ERSKINE, A. M. 

OF STIRLING, 
FATHER OF THE SECESSION CHURCH, 



TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, 

A MEMOIR OF HIS FATHER, 

THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE^ A. M. 

OF CHIRNSIM 



By DONALD FRASER, 

\ > 

MINISTER OF THE UNITED ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION, 
KENNOWAY, FIFESH1RE. 



EDINBURGH: A 
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM OLIPHANT : 

AND SOLD BY WILLIAM COLLINS, AND M. LOCHHEAD, GLASGOW 
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. LONDON; W. M c COMB, BELFAST ; 
AND W. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN. 



MDCCCXXXI. 



J. THOMSON, Printer, Milne Square, Edinburgh. 



PREFACE. 



Although the prevailing taste of the age had not 
been decidedly favourable to biographical writ- 
ings, few would have disputed the claims of the 
Reverend Ebenezer Erskine to a niche among 
those who deserve the gratitude and the venera- 
tion of posterity. 

To possess authentic and circumstantial ac- 
counts, not only of the great masters of science, 
and of the inventors of useful and elegant arts, but 
also of the acknowledged founders of communities 
and parties, whether civil or religious, — is gene- 
rally considered desirable. Religion being pre- 
eminently the highest of all concern^, public cu- 
riosity has been peculiarly alive to the character 
and history of men, whose opinions and efforts 
have exercised a powerful and lasting influence on 
the sentiments and conduct of others, with regard 
to that interesting subject. If it is deemed neces- 



iv PREFACE. 

sary to acquire information relating even to those 
unprincipled impostors and distempered enthu- 
siasts, who have appeared in different ages and 
countries to mislead mankind, and to sully the 
purity, as well as disturb the peace of the church ; 
— those " men of God," whom providence has 
raised up in various periods to correct existing er- 
rors and abuses, to rekindle the latent embers of 
piety, and to give a new and salutary impulse to 
the spirit of religion, have certainly a far better 
title to general attention. To investigate the 
character and behaviour of individuals of this de- 
scription, is an exercise equally beneficial and 
pleasing. To examine their leading views of the 
truth; to mark the noble motives and aims by 
which they were influenced ; to trace the develop- 
ment of their talents ; to survey their integri- 
ty, wisdom, and magnanimity, as displayed in dif- 
ficult and trying situations ; to contemplate the fe- 
licitous results of their upright and zealous exer- 
tions; to notice with a candid and enlightened 
eye even the failings and defects which may have 
somewhat shaded the lustre of their general excel- 
lence, and obstructed the success of their laudable 
designs ; — these are employments calculated to in- 
terest an intelligent, a devout, and a benevolent 
mind. 

It is highly proper, therefore, to study the bio- 
graphy of an Augustine, a Wickliffe, a Lu- 
ther, and a Knox. Reformers, too, of more re- 
cent times, or of less exalted fame, ought not to be 



PREFACE. * V 

treated with neglect. To say nothing of those 
distinguished men, who were happily instrumental 
in promoting the interest of religion in Britain in 
the seventeenth century ; it is well known that, at 
an early period of the last century, several eminent 
Clergymen, both in England and Scotland, dis- 
covered an ardent zeal for the defence of Divine 
truth against the encroachments of error, and for 
the restoration of piety from that state of languor 
into which it had fallen. Amongst the Scotish 
Ministers who embarked in this sacred cause, some 
satisfied themselves with those exertions which 
were practicable within the pale of the National 
Church ; while others, under the leadings of Pro- 
vidence, adopting a bolder and more unfettered 
course, prosecuted their efforts in a state of open 
Secession. 

To deny, or to palliate the faults and imperfec- 
tions of the Secession Church, either in its mini- 
sters, or members at large, would be equally unfair 
and unwise. But whether we take a view of its 
numbers and extent, or of the good which it is di- 
rectly and indirectly the means of doing, no can- 
did person will question its title to some considera- 
tion and respect. Nor can it be reasonably doubt- 
ed that the magnitude and usefulness which it has 
attained should dispose, not only those immediate- 
ly connected with it, but all of every persuasion to 
whom the prosperity of Zion is dear, to take an 
interest in the history of its Founders. 

Independently of the public influence which the 



vi 



PREFACE. 



Fathers of the Secession exerted on its affairs, 
their personal excellencies were fitted to command 
veneration ; and their general conduct exhibits 
much, that posterity would do well to admire, and 
to imitate. Even writers who disapprove, in the 
strongest terms, of their ecclesiastical procedure, 
expressly admit that they were "men of worth 
and principle."* 

Among these worthy and conscientious men, 
Mr. Ebenezer Erskine took the lead in declar- 
ing the secession. His faithful remonstrances 
against prevailing defections, in a Sermon preach- 
ed at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Stir- 
ling, gave occasion to those proceedings of the Ju- 
dicatories against the Four Brethren who were 
first associated in this cause, and the other Four 
who subsequently joined them; which terminated 
in a total separation betwixt them and the Courts 
of the Established Church. However far he was 
from arrogating superiority in any respect to his 
much esteemed Brethren, who honourably shared 
with him in the toils and perils of the conflict, a 
sovereign Providence was pleased to place him in 
the front of the battle ; and both friends and ene- 
mies have, in consequence, been accustomed to 
regard him as eminently the Father of the Secession 
Church. 

That he equalled all his coadjutors in every ta- 

* Sir Henry Moncreiff 's Account of the Life and Writings of 
Dr. Erskine, p 97. 



PREFACE. 



vii 



lent and acquirement, is by no means affirmed. 
The Rev. William Wilson, of Perth, of whom 
an interesting Memoir has recently been given to 
the world by one of his descendants, very proba- 
bly excelled him in a turn for laborious research ; 
while in a rich vein of fancy, his own brother, 
Ralph, of Dunfermline, was superior to both. 
Yet Ebenezer Erskine was unquestionably pos- 
sessed of high endowments, well suited to the pre- 
cedency assigned to him. Richly furnished with 
the treasure of Scriptural knowledge, as well as 
" unequalled in dignity of manner," his ministra- 
tions in the pulpit made him uncommonly popular 
among hearers of every class; while by sterling 
good sense, singular energy, and manly intrepidi- 
ty, he was peculiarly qualified for the post allotted 
to him in the arduous struggle maintained by the 
Four Brethren against the corrupt and arbitrary 
measures of the Judicatories. His published dis- 
courses, too, we may add, with the exception of 
Boston's Writings, have perhaps commanded as 
extensive and as lasting a circulation, as those of 
any other Scotish minister of that age. These 
remarks are in accordance with the following eulo- 
gy, which has been lately pronounced by a re- 
spectable Historian. Having adverted to the ob- 
noxious proceedings by which the rights of the 
Christian people were infringed in the year 1732, 
he adds : 

" Of those who appeared publicly in defence of 
the liberties of the Scotish Church on this trying 



viii 



PREFACE. 



occasion, the most honourably distinguished was 
the Reverend Ebenezer Erskine, one of the Mini- 
sters of Stirling, a man of great natural talents, 
improved by a liberal education, and upwards of 
thirty years spent in the faithful discharge of mi- 
nisterial duty. He w^as possessed of singular 
courage, great eloquence, unquestionable piety ; 
and had long been regarded by the better part of 
the Church with particular respect and venera- 
tion."* 

The writer of the following sheets first turned 
his attention, a considerable time since, to the his- 
tory of this celebrated man. He prepared a Me- 
moir of him, which appeared in a series of papers 
in the Christian Repository, and was finished at the 
close of the year 1820. About four years since, 
he also published, in a condensed form, the sub- 
stance of the details contained in that periodical 
work, in a Memoir prefixed to an edition of Mr. 
Ebenezer Erskine's Works, in two Volumes, 8vo. 
edited at London, 1826. 

The present volume not only comprises every 
thing important in these previous accounts, but 
is enriched with additional materials, derived 
from a great variety of sources. The writer 
has improved his narrative by gleanings from 
a considerable number of publications, and chief- 

* History of Scotland, from the Union to the abolition of he- 
ritable jurisdictions, 1748. By John Struthers, vol. i. p. 619. 



PREFACE. 



ly by selections from various manuscripts, espe- 
cially from the short-hand writings of Messrs. 
Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine. Of these, some 
have fallen to his share as a great-grandson of 
Ralph ; and for the perusal of others, he has been 
obliged to the kindness of relatives and friends. 
He has availed himself, in particular, of a treasure 
hitherto unexplored — a Diary in short-hand cha- 
racters, written by Ebenezer, which contains an 
interesting account of his history and religious 
experience for about twenty years. With no 
small difficulty, and at a great expense of time and 
labour, he succeeded in deciphering this highly va- 
luable record. After transcribing the whole man- 
uscript, it appeared to him proper to introduce 
extracts from it, arranged rather according to the 
order of the subjects than the date of the entries, 
so as to make its different parts reflect light and 
beauty on each other. The 2d and 3d, and, in a 
great degree, the 6th, Chapters of this work, con- 
sist principally of these extracts ; which, in deep- 
toned piety and energetic expression, have been 
rarely surpassed, or even equalled. They can 
scarcely fail to prove acceptable and edifying to 
Ministers and private Christians of all denomina- 
tions. 

How far they may tend to satisfy inquirers 
respecting assurance — a subject keenly contro- 
verted in this country at present, he will not 
pretend to judge. But he is not without hopes 
that, while they reprove the apathy of those luke- 



X 



PREFACE. 



warm professors, who discover no solicitude re* 
specting the comfort arising from persuasion of 
personal interest in the Divine favour, they may 
afford salutary counsel to some well-inclined indi- 
viduals, who have been tempted to found their con- 
solation and hope upon assumptions unwarranted 
by Scripture. 

These extracts from Mr. Erskine's Diary, mean- 
while, in so far as legitimate influence can attach 
to the deliberate views and solid experience of a 
most upright and thoughtful person, are calculated 
to inspire the reader with a decided aversion to 
the Socinian system. One of their most distin- 
guishing characteristics is the paramount import- 
ance, which this conscientious inquirer, after be- 
coming decidedly pious, never ceased to perceive 
in the doctrine of a Divine person assuming the 
nature of man, and submitting to agonies and 
death, in order to expiate guilt, and bring in ever- 
lasting righteousness — not merely as an article of 
his creed, but as the foundation of all his hope in 
the prospect of death and eternity. 

Whilst the three Chapters just specified con- 
tain the essence of the Diary, and furnish 
striking specimens of his acquaintance with the 
power of religion, most of the other Chapters in- 
clude quotations from it, referring partly to his 
personal experience and domestic occurrences, and 
partly to the public transactions of the times. 

It is obviously impossible to give a just and 
satisfactory account of the Life of Mr. Erskine, 



PREFACE. 



xi 



without intermixing with it some notices of those 
ecclesiastical affairs in which he was immediate- 
ly concerned. The prominent part he acted 
in the Secession, in particular, renders some il- 
lustrations of that event indispensably neces- 
sary ; and his Biographer is not ashamed to avow 
that his prepossessions are in favour of the man 
and his cause. May he be permitted, however, 
to say, that he has attempted to divest himself 
of all undue partiality, and to exhibit a faithful 
and unvarnished statement of facts. His chief ob- 
ject, in undertaking this work, was to perform a 
useful service to all the churches of Christ, by pre- 
senting a just portrait of a distinguished Christian 
and Minister. Conformably to this design, he has 
allotted to the detail and vindication of Mr. Er- 
skine's procedure in conducting the Secession 
from the Established Judicatories, nothing more 
than its proper proportion in the book; has stu- 
diously shunned whatever appeared to him con- 
trary to Christian candour ; and has gladly seized 
opportunities of honouring the memory of several 
estimable Clergymen who remained in the com- 
munion of the National Church, as well as of those 
who considered it their duty to secede. 

In arranging his multifarious materials, he has en- 
deavoured to avoid prolixity, and to reduce within 
moderate bounds what might easily have admitted 
of much greater expansion. — The Appendix con- 
sists of some illustrations and original documents 
connected with the narrative. 



xii 



PREFACE. 



The prefixed Memoir of the Rev. Henry Er- 
skine, of Chirnside, relates to a minister, whose 
life and character are intrinsically highly worthy 
of attention : while it forms an appropriate intro- 
duction to the Life and Diary of his son Ebenezer 
— and, also, to an account of his son Ralph, which, 
with the permission of providence, the author in- 
tends hereafter to publish. This memoir of Henry 
will be found to comprehend all the particulars 
formerly recorded by Wodroic, Calami/, Palmer, 
and others, with some additional circumstances 
drawn from various authentic sources. 

It is incumbent on me now to express my sin- 
cere gratitude to all those who have favoured me 
with valuable communications. I have been par- 
ticularly indebted to my venerable and worthy 
friend, the Rev. John Brown, of Whitburn, who 
not only requested me to make free use of his own 
memoirs of Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine 
contained in his publication, entitled Gospel 
Truth; but communicated, at different times, 
many particulars not included in those accounts* 
I am under great obligations, also, to Mr. John 
Birrell, Kinnesswood, for the use of his excel- 
lent Manuscript, relating mostly to Mr. Er- 
skine's ministry in the parish of Portmoak; the 
materials of which are very fully brought for- 
ward, chiefly in the 4th chapter of this work. 
To William C. Balderston, Esq. W. S. I have 
been indebted for the loan of a Diary written by 



PREFACE. 



xiii 



Mrs. Balderstori) the eldest daughter of Mr. Er- 
skine, of Chirnside ; which has supplied some in- 
teresting notices regarding her Father and Broth- 
ers. To the obliging attention of Humphrey 
Ewing Maclae, Esq. of Cathkin, and Mr. Wal- 
ter Wardlaw, Glasgow, I owe the perusal of a 
large Note-book, containing the Diary written by 
Ebenezer Erskine himself. Mr. Wardlaw has also 
indulged me with a sight of various other authentic 
documents, illustrative of the character and his- 
tory of the Erskines. By the kindness of my 
learned and respectable neighbour, the late Rev. 
William Craik, Kennoway, Clerk to the Pres- 
bytery of Kirkaldy, I had full access to the Records 
of that Presbytery, from which much new informa- 
tion has been received, respecting Mr. Erskine's 
circumstances and conduct during the twenty- 
eight years of his ministry at Portmoak. The 
Rev. Robert Swan, of St. Monance, Clerk to the 
Synod of Fife, has also very kindly furnished some 
extracts respecting him, from the Records of that 
Synod. My best thanks are due, likewise, to the 
Rev. John Smart, of Stirling, for allowing me 
to examine the numerous collection he possesses 
of the short-hand Note-books of Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine ; from which, as well as from similar 
books written chiefly by Mr. Ralph Erskine, 
that belong to my brother, the Rev. William 
Fraser, of Alloa, and myself, I have learned 
some interesting facts, and obtained some curious 
papers. To every individual not named, who has 



PREFACE. 



afforded the writer any assistance in collecting ma- 
terials for this publication, he begs to return his 
cordial acknowledgments. 

In conclusion, he desires, above all, humbly to 
remember his dependence on the Father of lights, 
without whose benign influence, no production 
can prove either creditable to the writer, or useful 
to the reader. That God, by his blessing, may 
render this little work, whatever be its defects, 
conducive, in some degree, to his own glory, and 
to the advancement of pure and undefiled religion, 
is the prayer of 

THE AUTHOR. 

Kennoway, 

March 1831. 



CONTENTS. 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE, A. M. 



His Birth — Education — Ordination at Cornhill — Success of 
his ministry — Ejection — Voyage to London — Removal to 
Dryburgh — Appears before the Privy Council at Edin- 
burgh — Sentenced to confinement in the Bass, but per- 
mitted to go into exile — Residence near Carlisle, then at 
Monilaws — Imprisonment at Wooler and Newcastle — 
Ministry at Rivelaw — Mr. Boston's conversion — Instances 
of providential relief to Mr. Erskine and family — Minis- 
try at Chirnside — Triumphant death, and impressive 
charge to his children — Interment — Sepulchral monu- 
ments — First and second marriage — Margaret Halcro his 
widow, and family — Friends and fellow- sufferers — Writ- 
ings 



THE LIFE AND DIARY OF THE REV. EBENEZER 
ERSKINE, A. M. 

CHAPTER I. 

Mr. Erskine's Birth — His name Ebenezer — Education at 
the University of Edinburgh — Becomes Chaplain to the 
Earl of Rothes — License — Ordination at Portmoak — 
Marriage e ....... 61 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER II. 

PAGE 

Mr. Erskine's religion defective at the commencement of his 
ministry — Happy change in his views and feelings — Time 
and means of this change — Extended view of his character 
and experience, supplied by his Diary — Deep solicitude 
respecting eternity — Humility and penitence — Sentiments 
regarding the Saviour's person and work — Confiding 
faith in Christ — Admiration and love — Self-dedication— 
Conscientious fidelity in principle and practice— Spiri- 
tuality of mind . . . 79 



CHAPTER III. 

Mr. Erskine's attention to the means of spiritual progress 
— Personal exercises — Reading the Scriptures — Examples 
of pious reflexions on passages read — Devotional books- 
Prayer and intercession — Praise — Meditation and self- 
inquiry — Family-worship — Public ordinances, particular- 
ly the Lord's Supper — Intercourse with Ministers — Cor- 
respondence with private Christians — Improvement of 
dispensations of providence — Writing a Diary . . . .132 



CHAPTER IV. 

Active discharge of the pastoral office — Preparation for 
the pulpit — Subjects of discourse — Utterance — Frequent 
preaching — Catechising — Visitation of Families — Atten- 
tion to the sick — Instruction of the young — Praying So- 
cieties — Various advantages at Portmoak — Success of 
Mr. Erskine's ministry at home and abroad — Correspond- 



CONTENTS. 



xvii 



CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

Mr. Erskine's conduct as a member of Church-courts — Oath 
of Abjuration — Marrow Controversy — Vindication of his 
Discourses — Attachment to Confession of Faith — Fasts 
and Thanksgivings — Christian zeal for the Saviour's Divi- 
nity — Termination of the second process against Professor 
Simson 218 



CHAPTER VI. 

Personal and domestic afflictions at Portmoak — Death of 
three Sons, and of a Sister — Mr. Erskine himself seized 
with a dangerous fever — Improvement of trials, and their 
happy fruits — Death of the Rev. Mr. Plenderleath — Af- 
fliction, death, and character of Mrs. Erskine — Brother 
Ralph's sympathy — Decease of Mr. Balderston — Letters 
to Mrs. Balderston — Death of one Daughter, and recovery 
of another — Inscription on Mrs. Erskine's tomb . . . 264 



CHAPTER VII. 

Mr. Erskine's second marriage — Death of his Mother, and 
of his Brother's wife — Various unsuccessful attempts to 
remove him from Portmoak — Calls to Burntisland and 
Tulliallan — Proposal from the parish of Saline — Call to 
Kirkaldy prevented, notwithstanding the wishes of the 
people — Call to Kinross — Call and Translation to Stirling 
— Lasting friendship between Mr. Erskine and the peo- 
ple of Portmoak — Importance of his new charge — His 
predecessors and colleagues — Diligence, faithfulness, and 
success 307 



XV111 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SKETCH OF PARTICULARS REGARDING THE RISE 
OF THE SECESSION. 

PA( 

Remote causes of this event — Mr. Erskine's first indications 
of zeal for religious liberty — Opposes a settlement by- 
patronage at Ballingry in 1717 — Unites with others in re- 
monstrating against the Act of Assembly respecting va- 
cant parishes, 1732 — Complained of for expressions in 
his sermon at Perth, before the Synod of Perth and Stir- 
ling, and declared censurable — His protest and appeal to 
the General Assembly, 1733 — Unfavourable sentence of 
that Court — Protest by the Four Brethren — Proceedings 
of the Commission against them in August and November 
— Their constituting themselves into a Presbytery at 
Gairney-bridge in December — Conciliatory measures of 
the Assembly 1734 — The seceding ministers decline to ac- 
cede — Their appearance, when summoned to reply to a 
Libel, before the Assembly 1739 — Their deposition by 
that court, 1740 — Attestations to the character of Mr. 
Erskine — His integrity, fortitude, and ability in maintain- 
ing the cause he had espoused — Aspersions cast upon his 
conduct 34 



CHAPTER IX. 



Mr. Erskine's persevering fidelity at Stirling — Affair of the 
five Elders who annoyed him — His peaceable withdraw- 
ment from the Parish-church — Erection of a spacious 
meeting-house — His increased popularity and usefulness 
—Active exertions in promoting the object of the Seces- 
sion — General prosperity of the cause — Correspondence 
with the Rev e Gabriel Wilson, and George Whitefield — 
Covenanting — Loyalty during the Rebellion 1745-6 — 
Conduct with regard to the Breach 1747 — Mr. Erskine 
chosen Professor of Divinity 408 



CONTENTS. 



xix 



CHAPTER X. 



Mr. Erskine visited with new bereavements — His infirmi- 
ties — -Obtains Mr. James Erskine for his assistant and 
successor — Exemplary conduct, and striking expressions, 
in the near prospect of eternity — Death and burial — 
Sketch of his character, with anecdotes — Excellencies as 
a Preacher and an Author — Notices of his family and de- 
scendants — Conclusion 453 



Appendix 



513 



MEMOIR 

OF THE 

REV. HENRY ERSKINE, A. M. 

MINISTER 

FIRST AT CORNHILL, AFTERWARDS AT CHIRNSIDE. 



MEMOIR 

OF THE 

REV. HENRY ERSKINE, A. M. 



His Birth Education — Ordination at Cornhill — Success of his 

ministry — Ejection — Voyage to London — Removal to Dryburgh 

Appears before the Privy Council at Edinburgh — Sentenced 

to confinement in the Bass, but permitted to go into exile — Resi- 
dence near Carlisle, then at Monilaws — Imprisonment at Wool- 
er and Newcastle — Ministry at Rivelaw — Mr. Boston* s conver- 

sion Instances of providential relief to Mr. Erskine and family 

Ministry at Chirnside — Triumphant death and impressive 

charge to his children — Interment — Sepulchral monuments — 
First and second marriage — Margaret Halcro his widow, and 
family — Friends and fellow -sufferers — Writings. 

The Reverend Henry Erskine, of Chirnside, was a 
man of considerable eminence. His Christian graces 
and attainments, his valuable and successful labours in 
the ministry, and the various sufferings he endured in 
the cause of truth, have combined to embalm his me- 
mory in the hearts of the pious. The celebrity acqui- 
red by two of his sons has also contributed to enhance 
and to perpetuate his fame. If the Rev. Philip Henry 
is remembered with sentiments of affectionate venera- 
tion as the father of Matthew Henry, that distinguished 
expositor of Scripture, the name of Henry Erskine is 
regarded in the church with similar feelings of reve- 
rence and love, as the father of Ebenezer and Ralph. 



4 



MEMOIR OF 



This excellent minister was born in the year 1624, 
at Dryburgh, " the seat of an ancient abbey," on the 
banks of the Tweed, in the parish of Mertoun, and 
county of Berwick. * By his father, Mr. Ralph Er- 
skine of Shielfield, he stood related to the ancient house 
of Mar. f His father's family was uncommonly large, 
consisting of thirty-three children ; and so great was 
the number of grandchildren, with whom this venerable 
patriarch, for some time prior to his death, was sur- 
rounded, that, according to tradition, he could not re- 
collect them by face, and when he happened to see 
them, frequently proposed the friendly question — " Who 
are you, my little man?" 

The subject of this memoir was one of the younger 
of these thirty-three ; and notwithstanding the expenses 
previously incurred in rearing a numerous train of bro- 
thers and sisters, his education was by no means ne- 
glected. The early proofs he gave of piety and talent, 
determined his parents to grant him every advantage 
they were able to afford. After finishing the elemen- 
tary studies of the grammar school, he attended the 
university of Edinburgh, where, having acquired a com- 
petent knowledge of languages, philosophy, and theolo- 
gy, he received the degree of Master of Arts. £ The 
Principal at that time was the Rev. John Adamson, a 
man of eminent ability, varied learning, and consum- 
mate prudence, who presided over the university from 
the year 1625 to 1652. Amongst the Regents, or Pro- 

* An account of this abbacy, written by the late Earl of Bu- 
chan, may be seen in Grose's Antiquities. 
•f See Appendix, No. I. 

£ Chalmers' General Biographical Dictionary, vol. xiii. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



5 



fessors, during the latter years of that period, we find 
the names of Messrs. James Wright, James Wiseman, 
and Robert Young.* 

Henry Erskine's improvement in knowledge and in 
piety was very probably promoted, in no small degree, 
by the public ministrations, and private counsels of the 
worthy men, with whose pastoral care he was privileg- 
ed in youth. Mr. Andrew Simpson, minister at Dry- 
burgh, was distinguished for spirituality of mind, and 
unremitting attention to prayer, and the reading of the 
scriptures. " He was a most free reprover," says a 
noted clergyman, " of whatever he accounted sinful ; 
and, for that reason, he was, by order of the Parliament 
1621, imprisoned in the castle of Dumbarton, where 
the Lord blessed his preaching and prayers for the con- 
version from popery of the lady of Sir John Stewart, 
the captain of the castle. After a while he was libe- 
rated, and returned to Dryburgh, where, and at Mer- 
toun, he preached till his death." -f. The Rev. John 
Smith, who appears to have succeeded Mr. Simpson in 
the parish of Mertoun, gave evidence of the same hea- 
venly temper. " He had all the Psalms by heart," says 
the writer just quoted, " and used at meals to repeat 
a psalm. When he met with any young men intend- 
ing for the ministry, he used gravely to exhort, and 
heartily to bless them. He once took me off the street 
of Edinburgh into a house for that purpose." J To be 

* Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh, vol. i. 
p. 223, &c. 

•f- The Lives of Eminent Divines and Private Christians, who 
lived in Scotland during the first century after the .Reformation, 
by the Rev. John Livingston, Minister at Ancrum. Glasgow 
edit. 1754, p. 12. 

t Ibid. p. 21. 



G 



MEMOIR OF 



placed under the ministry of pastors so richly imbued 
with the spirit of Christian piety and kindness, must be 
an invaluable advantage to candidates for the sacred 
office. 

The religious principles which Mr. Erskine em- 
braced, exerted a powerful influence on the events of his 
life. Having carefully studied the questions to which, 
in that age, the public attention was eagerly directed, 
he conscientiously and decidedly attached himself to the 
doctrines of the Scots Confession, and the Westminster 
Confession of Faith, and to the presbyterian forms of 
w r orship, discipline, and government. Conformably to 
these sentiments, he received license to preach the gos- 
pel from presbyterian ministers, and was afterwards or- 
dained by clergymen of that persuasion. 

The place where this good man first ministered, was 
Cornhill, a village in the parish of Norham, and county 
of Northumberland, pleasantly situated on the south 
bank of the Tweed, about fifteen miles east from the 
spot of his nativity. The year of his ordination, and 
consequently the precise duration of his ministry at 
Cornhill, we are unable, certainly, to determine. Ac- 
cording to Calamy and Palmer, he was minister of the 
chapel of Cornhill only three years. * Wodrow, how- 
ever, extends it to thirteen years ;f and, agreeably to 
this account, the inscription of the new monument, late- 
ly erected to his memory, represents him as ordained 
at Cornhill in 1649. The Diary of his son Ralph 

* Calamy's Continuation, vol. ii. p. 678. Palmer's Noncon- 
formist's Memorial, vol. iii. p. 62. This writer says, " Cornhill 
chapel, in the parish of Norham. Randall has it A. Scott 3 an 
intruder, 1649." 

-f History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. 
p. 256, 1st edit. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



1 



contains an entry, stating that Mrs. Balderston, his sis- 
ter, was born at Galashiels, June 28, 1853. But whe- 
ther Henry Erskine and family at that time resided at 
Galashiels, or whether the first Mrs. Erskine, notwith- 
standing her husband's being then minister at Cornhill, 
found it convenient to spend a few weeks with relatives at 
that village, it seems impossible now, positively, to as- 
certain. 

His labours at Cornhill, whether the period of their 
continuance may have been longer or shorter, were sig- 
nally blessed. At first he found the people ignorant, 
ungodly, and rude. So virulent was their hostility to 
serious religion, that, when sitting in his own house, he 
sometimes heard them cursing him in the street. By 
the divine blessing, however, on his excellent ministra- 
tions and prudent conduct, a surprising change took 
place in their character. They became warmly attach- 
ed to him for his Master's sake ; and when, by the act 
of Uniformity, August 24, 1662, he, in common with 
two thousand faithful ministers in England, was ejected, 
they deeply regretted his removal. The following an- 
ecdote is related on credible authority. Immediately 
after his expulsion, and before an episcopal clergyman 
had been appointed to succeed him, some of the pa- 
rishioners attempted to plough the glebe for Mr. Er- 
skine's benefit ; but the agent of the Bishop soon com- 
pelled them to desist, and employed others to cultivate 
the land for the advantage of his lordship. One of 
these workmen, to whom a fellow-labourer had express- 
ed his sorrow that their late pastor should be deprived 
of the glebe, especially while there was no other incum- 
bent, returned an uncivil answer to the generous re- 
mark, and, in terms too coarse to be repeated, pro- 



8 



MEMOIR OP 



nounced a horrid imprecation on himself, in the event 
of his relinquishing the work. A few minutes after the 
ominous words had proceeded from his lips, this reck- 
less individual was seized with a violent distemper, 
which proved fatal within the space of two or three 
days. His sudden death was regarded by the people 
as a providential judgment. Whether this interpreta- 
tion of the melancholy occurrence deserve approbation 
or censure, they were universally struck with such con- 
sternation, that no one could be found daring enough 
to renew the experiment of cultivating the glebe that 
year for behoof of the bishop. Mr. Erskine's friends 
were allowed to plough, sow, and reap it for his use ; 
and it was remarked that the ground produced an 
uncommonly rich crop, which supplied his family with 
bread for a considerable time. 

His services in the first sphere of his ministerial ex- 
ertion were not soon forgotten. After the lapse of half 
a century, he was remembered with veneration and gra- 
titude by some aged survivors, to whom his discourses 
had been blessed ; as appears from an account of him 
in manuscript, composed in the year 1715, by Mr. 
Ebenezer Erskine, then at Portmoak, which contains 
the following sentence : " His son Ebenezer having oc- 
casion, of late, to be at Cornhill well, he found his fa- 
ther's name fragrant and savoury among some old peo- 
ple, who had been under his ministry, and were exceed- 
ingly kind to the son for the father's sake." * 

* The author was favoured some years ago with a perusal of 
this MS. which then belonged to a lady in Stirling. See also in 
the Advocate's Library, among the Wodrow MSS. Robt. iii. No, 
17- " Abbreviat of the Life and Sufferings of Mr. Henry Er- 
skine, by his Son. Reed. May 1716." 



THE REV. HENRY ERSK1NE. 



'9 



To whatever cause it was owing, the emoluments of 
his small living at Cornhill were, during his incumben- 
cy, partly if not entirely withheld. Being advised to 
make application to the king for redress, he undertook 
a voyage to London, some circumstances of which are 
deserving of notice. The ship he embarked in was ob- 
liged, by the state of the wind and weather, to put into 
Harwich, and to remain there for three weeks. But, 
by the kindness of Providence, the delay was over-ruled 
for good. The religious people of that town, on find- 
ing that he was one of the ejected ministers, invited him 
to preach the gospel to them ; heard him with great sa- 
tisfaction both on Sabbath and on week days, and 
gave him substantial tokens of their gratitude and 
esteem, during his stay, and at his departure. On his 
arrival at London, after soliciting the countenance of 
some individuals who had influence at Court, he pre- 
sented his petition to the king. It proved, however, al- 
together fruitless. After long and expensive waiting, 
he was dismissed with the ungracious reply, that he 
could be furnished with no warrant to recover his ar- 
rears, unless he would promise to conform in future to 
the established church. Several Scotish noblemen, 
with whom he had been formerly somewhat acquaint- 
ed, offered him handsome benefices, on condition of 
conformity : but he peremptorily declined all such pro- 
posals, assuring them that he would cast himself and 
family on the care of Providence ; and that he deemed 
it far better for him, if necessary, to beg his bread, than 
to violate his duty, or counteract the dictates of his con- 
science. 

To what extent he was gratified by the public ser- 
vices or personal intercourse of the pious clergymen of 



10 



MEMOIR OF 



London, during his stay in that city, we cannot parti- 
cularly state. One of his manuscripts, however, con- 
tains the heads of several sermons preached by Mr. Sib- 
bald at Blackfriars, London, in December 1663. It 
seems probable, therefore, that he had embraced an op- 
portunity of hearing these sermons, on occasion of his 
visit to the metropolis that year. 

His efforts to obtain the arrears due to him having 
completely failed, he was obliged to retrace his steps, 
with a sorrowful heart and an empty purse. He agreed 
with a shipmaster bound for Leith. A short time after 
the commencement of the voyage, when about to pay for 
some victuals, he showed a ship-boy a crown, being all 
that now remained of his pocket-money, proposing to 
exchange it for smaller coin : but, to his great mortifica- 
tion and surprise, the youth told him that his crown 
was not worth a farthing. He consequently made 
known his circumstances to the master of the vessel, 
and asked the loan of a little money, promising pay- 
ment, if it pleased God to bring him safe to Edinburgh. 
A different mode of relief, however, was unexpectedly 
provided. When they had proceeded several leagues 
to the north of Harwich, a violent storm arose, by which 
they were driven — they scarcely knew whither ; and 
the mariners were quite at a loss in what direction they 
should steer the vessel. But, by the sovereign appoint- 
ment of Him, whom the seas and the winds obey, they 
were compelled to return to Harwich, and detained 
there for the space of six weeks. Mr. Erskine was thus 
favoured with an unlooked-for opportunity of making a 
second visit to his good friends in that town, which 
proved mutually gratifying in a high degree. He em- 
ployed the six weeks in administering to them, with 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



II 



zeal and diligence, the bread of life ; while, on their part, 
they esteemed it their honour and happiness to entertain 
him hospitably in their houses ; and to furnish him, on 
leaving them, with whatever might conduce to his com- 
fort in the voyage. When he subsequently related to 
his fellow-passengers the difficulties he had been in- 
volved in, and the way in which providence removed 
them ; the services he had been enabled to perform, and 
the liberal remunerations given him ; they all concurred 
in expressing their conviction that he was the Jonah, 
on whose account the storm, by which they were so 
long kept prisoners at Harwich, had been raised and 
continued. The master of the ship was so impressed 
with the sanctity of his character, and the special pro- 
tection with which the God of heaven appeared to hon- 
our him, that he would accept of nothing from him, 
either for his freight or maintenance. Nor must we 
omit to mention, that, according to the narrative,* the 
people of Harwich were so greatly pleased with his con- 
versation and discourses, that they earnestly entreated 
him to return with his wife and family, and take up his 
residence amongst them, as their stated pastor ; promis- 
ing to give him due subsistence and encouragement. 
With this cordial request, he was himself very much in- 
clined to comply ; but Mrs. Erskine could not be pre- 
vailed with to remove to so great a distance from her 
relatives and her native country. 

Soon after his return from London, he finally took 
leave of Cornhill. Deploring the violent separation 

* " Abbrev. of the Life and Sufferings of Mr. H. Erskine, by 
his Son." 



12 



MEMOIR OF 



effected by human tyranny, between him and his flock ; 
yet confiding in the wisdom, all-sufficiency, and good- 
ness of God, he removed his family to Dryburgh, where 
they appear to have resided about eighteen years. He 
was indebted for a dwelling-house to his brother, Mr. 
Erskine of Shielfield, who tenderly sympathized with 
him under his hardships and privations. If this was not 
the same Mr. Erskine who has the honour to be in- 
cluded in Wodrow's numerous list of those Scotish Pres- 
b} r terians, on whom fines were imposed by Midclleton, in 
the Parliament 1662, he seems, however, to have been 
a man not merely of the same name, but of a kindred 
spirit. The list referred to, particularizes among others, 
" John Erskine, portioner of Dryburgh, [fined] in 
£600."* " The persons contained in this act of fines," 
says that respectable historian, " so far as I can now 
learn about them, were, generally speaking, of the best 
morals, and most shining piety in the places where they 
lived ; and chargeable with nothing but being Presby- 
terians, and submitting to their conqueror when they 
could do no better."-j- 

From veneration for the memory of Mr. Erskine and 
family, the dwelling-house which he occupied in Dry- 
burgh, and where his son, Ebenezer, was born, was long 
preserved. In a Memoir of the late pious lady, Ann 
Agnes Erskine, published in the year 1805,J it is stat- 
ed, that the house was then standing ; " being preserved 
by the present Lord Buchan, in its primitive state, as 
a relic and memorial of them." So late as December 

* Scots money. 

fWod. Hist. vol. i. pp. 121, 122. App. No. 33. 
£ Evang. Mag. vol. xiii. p. 242. Burder's Memoirs of Emi- 
nently Pious Women, vol. iii. pp. 25/ 264. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



13 



1823, it was affirmed by a gentleman residing with his 
lordship, in reply to a letter requesting information re- 
specting the family, that Lord Buchan had caused " the 
part of the house inhabited by them to be preserved." 

Countenanced by relatives, and by old friends and ac- 
quaintance ; and above all, encouraged by the promises 
of that God who had " put him into the ministry," Mr. 
Erskine occasionally exercised his office at Dryburgh. 
The expulsion of Mr. James Kirkton, who was ejected 
from the parish of Mertoun, by the act of council passed 
at Glasgow, 1662, and succeeded by an Episcopal in- 
cumbent,* rendered the services of this esteemed Pres- 
byterian, in his native parish, the more desirable and 
necessary. To all who had the inclination and the 
courage to hear him in those days of misrule and op- 
pression, he faithfully addressed the message of the gos- 
pel ; preaching generally in his own house, but some- 
times in the fields. Nor did he neglect opportunities 
of attending divine ordinances, when administered by 
others in a manner that met his approbation. 

An instance of this pious attention, which occurred 
about the year 1665, is worthy of record. It is alluded 
to by his daughter, Mrs. Balderston, in her Diary, when 
detailing the circumstances of her first dedication of her- 
self to the Lord. Her statement is as follows : — " I can- 
not well remember what age I was of ; but I think I 
will have been between one and two-and-twenty years 
of age. I was in the old Lady Craigmillar's family, and 
had desired liberty to go south to see my father and 
friends ; my father then living in Dryburgh. And when 

* See the Biographical Notice prefixed to Kirkton's Secret and 
True History of the Church of Scotland, &c. 



14 



MEMOIR OF 



I came there, they were all intending to go to Ousnam 
communion ; which, I believe, was the last that ever Mr. 
John Scott had there. Perceiving their serious pre- 
paration, I began to think, certainly I had as great need 
as any of them. Then I thought I would read the 
scriptures and pray ; and I had a great desire to be a 
partaker — which I told to my father. But he was al- 
together against it ; alleging, as he had good ground, 
that I was ignorant, and if I had not an interest in Christ, 
I could not expect good there. I said to him, what 
knew he but I might get that there, that I never had 
before. But I finding him not for it, yet would not be 
put off. I went to my cousin, Mr. William Areskin, 
who was in the same town, and told him my earnest 
desire to be a partaker of the Lord's Supper ; and he 
encouraged me in it. — And I remember on the Mon- 
day, my father had that expression in his prayer, 6 O 
that many were longing for such another occasion.' I 
thought, I am sure I would give all the world for such 
another. And when I was to go in to Edinburgh ; I 
remember when my cousin, Mr. Areskin, was taking his 
leave of me, he laid his two hands on my shoulders, and 
looked up to heaven, and said, £ The Lord be with 
thee !' — which had such an impression upon my heart 
that never wore off it again. For I am sure he got his 
request ; for ever after, the Lord was with me." 

During his residence at Dryburgh, the subject of this 
Memoir seems to have prosecuted sacred studies with 
peculiar ardour. We have seen two manuscripts written 
by him, towards the commencement of that period. 
The one, dated July 29, 1664, consists chiefly of ex- 
tracts from various authors on theology and church- 
history, including Clark's Ten Heathen Persecutions. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



15 



The other is a small thick volume, containing a concise 
system of divinity in Latin ; which appears to be his own 
composition, very neatly written, and perhaps originally 
intended for the press, though never published. It ex- 
tends to 362 pages, and includes short answers to 647 
questions on twenty-seven points in theology.* 

While thus engaged in privately exercising his mi- 
nistry, and pursuing his favourite studies at Dry burgh, 
he probably experienced no great annoyance for a con- 
siderable time. But in the year 1682, in common with 
many other worthy presbyterians, he smarted under 
the cruel severities then inflicted by various parties of 
soldiers, on persons " guilty, or suspected to be guilty, 
of withdrawing from ordinances in their own parishes, 
of keeping conventicles,. and of disorderly baptisms and 
marriages, since his Majesty's late act of indemnity, 
1679." f On Sabbath, the 23d April, Adam Urquhart, 
of Meldrum, one of the most active officers entrusted 
with the command of forces in those disreputable ser- 
vices, coming with a company of soldiers, seized him 
when worshipping God with his family, carried him to 
Melrose, and kept him prisoner that night. The day 
following he was released ; Mr. James Erskine, of Shiel- 
field, his nephew, giving a bond of 5000 merks for his 
appearance when required. On the 8th of May, Mel- 
drum, having returned from the West of Scotland to 

* The title of this MS. is " Theologiae Ostium, in quo Apices 
Quaestionum Theologicarum, cum earum solutionibus, ex ore du- 
orum vel trium testimoniorum signatis, continentur. Ab Henrico 
Areskino, haec, 1665." The twenty-seven topics discussed, are 
denominated Puncta. The conclusion of the work is thus dated 
by himself; "Finem hisce, Augusti 4, 1665, imposui." 

f Wodrow's Hist. vol. ii. Book iii. Ch. 6. 



16 



MEMOIR OF 



Melrose, called for the minister and his nephew, and 
giving up the bond, carried the former to Jedburgh, 
where again he found bail for his appearance at Edin- 
burgh on the 12th of that month. Though labouring 
under a severe indisposition, he was obliged to under- 
take the journey at the time appointed. One of his de- 
scendants is possessed of an ebony cabinet, formerly the 
property of Mr. Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, con- 
taining a number of small family relics, including a pair 
of ihummikins, with which, according to tradition, the 
good man had the honour of being invested at the time 
he was taken prisoner to Edinburgh. When he ap- 
peared before a committee of the Privy Council, Sir 
George M'Kenzie, the King's Advocate, after some pre- 
vious examination, asked him if he was willing to give 
bond to preach no more at conventicles ; but Mr. 
Erskine boldly replied, " My Lord, I have my com- 
mission from Christ, and though I were within an hour 
of my death I durst not lay it down at the feet of any 
mortal man." The advocate having reported the mat- 
ter to the Council, his cause was delayed till the 6th of 
June; and he gave bail under 4000 merks to compear 
at that time. 

On that day, accordingly, he appeared in the pre- 
sence of the Council, and a libel, which, together with 
the summons, had been sent him on the 2d of June, 
was read, accusing him of preaching at conventicles, 
and of disorderly baptizing and marrying. Being asked 
by Chancellor Haddow Gordon what he had to say to 
the libel, he replied, " It was well known to those who 
resided in his neighbourhood, that from September 
1681, to the end of February that year, he was* in pro- 
vidence, afflicted with a severe flux, which disabled him 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



17 



from bowing his knees before God in his family ; and 
that subsequently, he had, by a violent ague, been ren- 
dered incapable of performing any part of his ministe- 
rial duty.*" The Chancellor, agreeably to the usual 
custom in those unhappy times, though in contradiction 
to an established maxim in law, " that no man is obliged 
to swear against himself," f inquired if he would make 
oath that he had not preached, baptized, or married, 
from September to June. To this question he an- 
swered, that he was not free to give his oath for the 
whole of that time. Though nothing was proved a- 
gainst him, sentence was immediately pronounced, or- 
daining him to pay a fine of 5000 merks, to be com- 
mitted that night to the tolbooth of Edinburgh, to be 
carried next day to the Bass, and to remain prisoner 
there till the fine should be paid, and security given 
that he should preach no more. Strongly apprehen- 

I sive that confinement in the Bass J would prove exceed- 
ingly injurious, if not absolutely fatal to him in the pre- 

| sent state of his health, he ventured, that afternoon, to 
present a petition to the Council, requesting an altera- 
tion of the sentence on that account, and soliciting per- 
mission to go into exile from Scotland, sufficient secu- 
rity being given for his departure. Through the in- 
fluence of friends, the Council granted this request as a 
favour ; and Mr. John Brown of Park, Mr. Erskine's 

* In former times, prior to the modern improvements in agri- 
culture, the Merse was much infested with agues. Kerr's View 
of the Agriculture of the County of Berwick, p. 474. 

•f* Nemo tenetur jurare in suam injuriam." 

% See an interesting description of this famous rock, and of its 
prison, in Crichton's Memoirs of the Rev. John Blackader. 



18 



MEMOIR OF 



nephew, who remained alive at least till the year 1715,* 
bound himself in a bond of 5000 merks, that his uncle 
should, within fourteen days, quit the kingdom, never to 
return without liberty given. He was, in consequence, 
released from prison, the clerks of the Council having 
got twenty-one dollars from him, and the jailor, with 
his servants, four — expenses which, unquestionably, he 
could not well afford. 

Here it seems right to advert to the following state- 
ment respecting Henry Erskine, which occurs in an 
extensive biographical work:f " The persecution 
carried on in Scotland against the presbyterians," 
says the writer of the article referred to, " obliged Mr. 
Erskine to take refuge in Holland, whence want of the 
common necessaries of life induced him again to return 
to his native country, where he was apprehended and 
committed prisoner to the Bass, a strong fort in the 
mouth of the Forth. There he continued near three 
years, till, through the interest of the Earl of Marr, his 
kinsman, he was set at liberty." But on what autho- 
rity these assertions have been made, we do not know. 
From the statements of his son, Ebenezer, it sufficiently 
appears that when " sentenced to the Bass in 1682, he 
was reprieved on promising to leave the kingdom." 
We are aware of no documents that show that either 
then, or at any other time, previous or posterior, he 
was actually imprisoned in the Bass. His taking re- 
fuge in Holland for a season, though this measure was 
resorted to by many of his fellow-sufferers, seems also 
questionable. The entire silence respecting it observed 

* Abbrev. of the Life and Sufferings, &c. 

•j- Chalmers's Gen. Biograph. Diet. Art. Erskine (Rev. Henry.) 



THE REV. HENRY ERSK1NE. 



19 



by his son, in his account of him, serves at least to cast 
a doubt on the fact. 

Mr. Erskine, in conformity with his engagement to 
the Council, prepared for leaving the country within 
the specified time. Sustained by the same spirit of 
faith with the patriarch who " went out, not knowing 
whither he went," he took leave of his wife and child- 
ren, and removed to the north of England, having no 
prospect of any certain abode, but committing himself 
and family to the care and direction of providence. He 
went first into the county of Northumberland, but find- 
ing some cause for apprehension regarding his safety, 
he proceeded to Cumberland, and at last fixed at Park- 
ridge, about ten miles from Carlisle, where the proprie- 
tor of the village allowed him a dwelling-house. In 
the month of September he sent for his wife and fami- 
ly, and for more than two years they resided here in a 
state of considerable tranquillity. To what extent he 
then employed himself in preaching the gospel, it is 
impossible to state particularly. His zeal, however, 
could not suffer him to remain altogether idle ; and, in 
the day when God " writeth up the people," it may 
possibly appear that the services he performed occa- 
sionally, and " as it were in secret," were more abund- 
antly blessed than the stated and public ministrations 
of many able and faithful pastors, to whom more peace- 
ful times have been assigned. It was perhaps while he 
lived at Park-ridge that an instance of success occur- 
red, which is thus related in a well-known periodical 
publication : 

" The Reverend Henry Erskine, (father of the late 
Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine,) when living in a 
retired house upon the Border, in the north of Eng- 



20 



MEMOIR OF 



land, noticed one day a number of people digging 
peats, and upon coming to them, he observed that they 
were too merry. To which one of them replied, ' Sir, 
we suppose you are a minister, and if you will consent 
to preach a sermon, we will sit down and be grave 
hearers.' 6 I fear/ said Mr. Erskine, < you are not in 
a proper frame for hearing a sermon.' They, however, 
pressed it so much on him, that he at last consented, 
and, after retiring for a little while to a secret place, he 
came forth and preached to about thirty work people, 
which happily issued in the conversion of eleven. How 
astonishing are the methods of grace ! O the depth of 
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
finding out !"* 

Towards the close of the year 1684, or early in 1685, 
he accepted a kind invitation from Mr. Gray of Preston, 
the ancestor, it is supposed, of the famous Grays of 
Howick, to dwell under his protection at Monilaws, an 
obscure village in the parish of Branxton, about two 
miles from Cornhill, whence he had been ejected. 
Soon after taking up his residence in this place, his fa- 
mily was happily encreased by the birth of his son 
Ralph. The repose he enjoyed here, however, was 
very soon interrupted. On the 2d of July 1685, he 

* Evangelical Magazine, vol. v. Supplement, p. 544. The au- 
thor has permission to state, that this anecdote was furnished to 
the Editor of that Magazine by the Rev. John Brown, Whit- 
burn, and that it was told Mr. Brown by that worthy man, the 
late Rev. Mr. Johnston of Ecclefechan. A respectable person, 
named John Hope, a member of Mr. Johnston's session, and the 
son of one of the eleven individuals hopefully converted by means 
of that sermon, had related the fact to his minister many years 
before. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



21 



was apprehended by eight of the militia horsemen, and 
carried to Wooler. Next day they brought him to 
Colonel Struthers at Fowberrie, who told him that, in 
compliance with an order from the king, he must go to 
Sir John Fenwick at Newcastle. That night he was 
sent back to Wooler, where he had the happiness to 
meet with the Rev. Luke Ogle, the ejected minister of 
Berwick. Confined in the same prison, and suffering 
in the same cause, their mutual communications, like 
those of Paul and Silas, must have proved truly re- 
freshing to both. On Saturday, July 4th, they were 
conveyed on horseback, under a guard of nine soldiers, 
to Eglingham, to the house of a Justice of Peace. Here 
they remained till Monday, the 6th of that month ; for, 
as Mr. Wodrow observes, " it seems the English were 
a little more careful of the Lord's day than our Scots 
persecutors." 

Mr. Erskine, in the morning of that day, was seized 
with a violent cholic, which gave him excruciating 
pain, and threatened an immediate dissolution ; yet so 
unfeeling were the soldiers that they hurried him away, 
when it was scarcely possible for him to sit on his 
horse. By the kindness of providence, however, he 
and Mr. Ogle, who was also indisposed at the time, 
reached Newcastle in the evening. When they called, 
about seven o'clock, at Sir John Fenwick's gate, he or- 
dered them to prison, and at the same time deprived 
each of them of his horse, which was never restored. 

Mr. Erskine's sickness and pain still continuing, he 
experienced from strangers, and even from persons of 
the lowest rank, that sympathy which it is vain to 
expect from men whose hearts the fell spirit of into- 
lerance has steeled alike against the dictates of piety, 



22 



MEMOIR OF 



and the common feelings of humanity. The prisoners, 
commiserating his condition, requested the jailor to 
give him liberty for a few days, till he recovered 
from his painful affliction. The jailor having kindly 
yielded to their importunity, he was received into the 
house of a Mrs. Mann, who acted towards him the part 
of the good Samaritan. He lodged with her about 
fourteen days, during which she assiduously took care 
of his health, and furnished him with every accommo- 
dation she was able to afford ; yet the prayers of her 
pious guest were the only remuneration she would ac- 
cept. The benevolent services of this generous and 
sympathizing female will appear, we trust, amongst 
those offices of charity, which the Redeemer himself 
will graciously acknowledge and reward, in that great 
day, when he shall say to those on his right hand, " I 
was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye 
came unto me." — After his recovery, he voluntarily re- 
turned to prison ; but on the 22d of July, he and Mr. 
Ogle were set at liberty, in terms of the Act of Indem- 
nity passed at the commencement of King James's 
reign. The considerate prisoners gave an additional 
testimony of their sympathy and esteem, by contribut- 
ing for him at his departure, the sum of 30s. to defray 
the expenses of his journey home. 

Having been mercifully restored to his family, after 
this cruel interruption of his peace, he continued to 
preach the gospel at Monilaws, usually every Lord's 
day, for about two years more. But, after the tolera- 
tion granted by King James's proclamation of indul- 
gence, a number of pious presbyterians residing in the 
parish of Whitsom and its vicinity, a few miles west from 
Berwick, on the Scots side, gave him a call to exercise 



THE REV. HENRY EKSKINE. 



23 



his ministry among them, which he accepted ; and, on 
September I, 1687, after having got up his bond from 
the Council of Scotland, * he removed with his family 
to Rivelaw, where his people erected a meeting-house. 
This hamlet, in common with many old villages, 
seems to have almost entirely disappeared : but, if we 
are not misinformed, there is still at least, one in- 
habited house that bears the name of Rivelaw. Mr. 
Erskine discharged his office here with much approba- 
tion and success, till the happy Revolution in 1688. 

One instance of the success of his labours in this 
place, pre-eminently deserves to be recorded — the con- 
version of the celebrated Thomas Boston of Ettrick. 
" Towards the latter end of summer that year (1687,)" 
says this excellent man himself, f " the liberty of con- 
science being then newly given by King James, my fa- 
ther took me away with him to the presbyterian meet- 
ing in the Newton of Whitsom. There I heard the 
worthy Mir. Henry Erskine, minister of Cornhill be- 
fore the Restoration ; by whose means it pleased the 
Lord to awaken me, and bring me under exercise about 
my soul's state ; being then going in the twelfth year of 
my age. — Two of Mr. Erskine's first texts were, John i. 
29. " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sin of the world ;" and Mat. iii. 7. " O generation of 
vipers, w r ho hath warned you to flee from the wrath to 
come?" By these, I judge, God spoke to me. My 
lost state by nature, and my absolute need of Christ, 

* His son Ebenezer, according to his own statement in the 
<( Abbreviate" formerly referred to, was, at the time of bis 
composing tbat account, in possession of this bond, " as an au- 
thentic document of the story." 

f Memoirs, pp. 8, 9^ 10. 



24 



MEMOIR OF 



being thus discovered to me, I was set to pray in earnest. 
I also carefully attended, for ordinary, the preaching 
of the word at Riveiaw, where Mr. Erskine had his 
meeting-house, about four miles from Dunse. In the 
summer time, company could hardly be missed ; and 
with them, something to be heard, especially in the re- 
turning, that was for edification ; to which I listened. 
But in winter, sometimes it was my lot to go alone, 
without so much as the benefit of a horse to carry me 
through Biackadder water, the wading whereof in sharp 
frosty weather, I very well remember. But such things 
were then easy, for the benefit of the word, which came 
with power." 

To this interesting statement in his memoirs, we may 
add a pleasant allusion to the circumstances of his con- 
version, which occurs in his soliloquy on the art of 
Man-fishing : " Little wast thou thinking, O my soul, 
on Christ, heaven, or thyself, when thou went to the 
Newton of Whitsoni to hear a preaching, when Christ 
first dealt with thee ; there thou got an unexpected 
cast." " Consider," he says again to his soul, " what 
a sad case thou thyself wast in, when Christ concerned 
himself for thy good. Thou wast going on in the way 
to hell, as blind as a mole : at last Christ opened thine 
eyes, and let thee see thy hazard, by a preacher that 
was none of the unconcerned Gallios — who spared nei- 
ther his body, his credit, nor reputation, to gain thee, 
and the like of thee." 

A short memoir of Mr. Henry Erskine, which appear- 
ed in a periodical publication* nearly thirty years ago, 

* The Christian Magazine for 1803, vol. vii. p. 181. The me- 
moir is written by a distinguished biographer, under the signa« 
ture of Spicilegus. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSK1NE. 



25 



contains the following just and pertinent reflexions on 
this auspicious result of his labours : " This one in- 
stance is worth a thousand. The seed of grace sown in 
Mr. Boston's heart, has sprung up in a numerous mul- 
titude of spiritual children. Beside the success of his 
ministry at Simprin, at Ettrick, and other places in the 
south of Scotland, the blessed effects of which still re- 
main, he has been an eminent instrument of the revi- 
val of gospel truth and practical religion, by his nu- 
merous and valuable writings ; and there is all ground 
to hope, shall be so to the latest posterity. Yet all . 
this, in respect of means, originated in a single ser- 
mon preached by Mr. Erskine. Herein that Scripture 
was remarkably fulfilled, " A little orfe shall become a 
thousand, and a small one a strong nation," Is. lx. 22. 
See also Psalm lxxii. 16. This may suggest no small 
encouragement to ministers of the gospel, greatly dis- 
tressed by the unsuccessfulness of their ministry. They 
may be doing much more good than they can, in the 
mean time, have any apprehension of." 

Men of intelligence and piety have often traced the 
course of God's procedure towards his people, and, in 
particular, towards his faithful ministers, in times of 
peril and difficulty, with admiration and delight. In 
great mercy, he not only cheers their hearts with spi- 
ritual consolations proportioned to the number and se- 
verity of their trials ; but often provides for their tem- 
poral support in a manner peculiarly striking. Inviola- 
ble faithfulness and unchanging love to his children ne- 
ver fail to characterize the operations of that God, who, 
in the days of famine, employed ravens to furnish his 
Prophet with a regular supply of food, and enabled 

c 



26 



MEMOIR OF 



him to assure the desponding widow, " that the barrel 
of meal should not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail." 
Even in modern times, when miracles, strictly so call- 
ed, are not to be looked for, relief has often been ad- 
ministered to necessitous Christians, so seasonably, so 
unexpectedly, by means so unlikely, and by benefac- 
tors so remarkably provided, that their hearts have 
overflowed with the liveliest emotions of wonder and 
gratitude ; and enemies themselves have been compelled 
to say, " Verily there is a reward for the righteous ; 
there is no want to them that fear God." To this class 
of events, the pious reader will not hesitate to refer the 
following occurrences in the history of Mr. Erskine. 
The reality of the facts cannot reasonably be question- 
ed ; being confirmed by the testimony of at least two 
credible witnesses, his son Ebenezer, and the Rev. 
William Veitch. Most of them are detailed in the 
" Abbreviate," mentioned above, where Ebenezer ex- 
presses himself in these words : " I shall condescend 
upon two or three which I had from his own mouth, 
when living, and which he told to many yet alive, both 
in Scotland and England." Dr. Calamy also, to whom 
a copy of that manuscript appears to have been sent, 
introduces his narrative of the facts, with the follow ing 
expressions : " This good man met with several very 
remarkable providences in the course of his life, of 
which I have an account from his son Ebenezer, who 
is minister at Portmoak, within the provincial Sy- 
nod of Fife, in Scotland."* Mr. Veitch's testimony 
respecting them is given in his own hand-writing, and 
contained in a manuscript, entitled, " Remarkable Pro- 1 



* Continuation, vol. ii. p. 681. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKIXE. 



27 



vidences concerning Karie Erskine, from Mr. William 
Veitch, sent April 1718."* The opportunities of infor- 
mation with regard to these providential occurrences, 
which this worthy minister possessed, are thus noticed 
at the beginning of the document : " When he came to 
live in the parish of Mertoun, in Teviotclale, he was 
frequently at my house in England, and assisted at my 
ordination. He told my wife and me the following 
things." In narrating these facts, we shall but slightly 
deviate from the homely terms made use of by the ori- 
ginal authorities now specified. 

While he resided at Dryburgh, after his ejectment 
from Cornhill, having no regular income or means of 
subsistence, he and his family were occasionally in 
great difficulties. Their extremity, however, was usu- 
ally God's opportunity of providing for them ; so that, 
neither himself nor family, were ever reduced to the 
necessity of begging their bread. At one time, in par- 
ticular, their small store was entirely exhausted. When 
they had supped in the evening, and the supper was a 
light one, there remained neither bread, meal 3 flesh, 
nor money, in the house. The children, awaking early 
in the morning, cried for bread. The good man must 
have felt exceedingly for them ; not having a morsel to 
give, and not knowing where he was to find a breakfast, 
either for the parents or the children. But his faith did 
not fail, and his mental tranquillity remained undisturb- 
ed. With his usual cheerfulness, he did what he could 
to entertain the children, and to encourage the sorrow- 
ing mother and himself to depend on that gracious Pro- 
vidence, which feeds the young ravens, when they cry 

* Wodrow MSS. Robt. III. No. 17. 



28 



MEMOIR OF 



for food. It is even stated, that he took a musical in- 
strument, the citren or guitar, with which he some- 
times recreated himself, and began to divert them with 
a tune. As Mr. Veitch expresses it, he played and 
wept alternately ; he being in one apartment and they 
in another. While he was thus engaged, they heard 
the sound of a horse's foot, coming along by the side of 
the house, and immediately a country-fellow knock- 
ed hard at the door, and called for some one to 
help him off with his load. Being asked whence 
he had come, and what was his errand, he inform- 
ed them that he came from the Lady Reburn with 
some provisions for Mr. Erskine. They told him 
he must be mistaken ; and that it was more like- 
ly to be for Mr. Erskine of Shielfield, in the same 
place. He replied, No : He knew what he said, and 
he was not such a sot as they took him to be ; he was 
sent to Mr. Henry Erskine. " Come," he concluded, 
" help me off with my load, or else I will throw it 
down at the door." They therefore took it from him, 
and brought it into the house ; and having opened the 
sack, they found it well filled with meal, cLeese, and 
flesh, for the relief of the family. Thus he experien- 
ced the accomplishment of the promise, " Bread shall 
be given him, his waters shall be sure ;" and was 
mightily encouraged to rely on his heavenly benefac- 
tor, in all future straits of a similar description. 

At another time, having made a visit to Edinburgh, 
his finances were so much reduced that he had only 
three half-pence in his pocket. Though standing in need 
of some refreshment, consciousness of inability to pay 
the bill, made him ashamed to enter a tavern, and call for 
victuals. But, when walking in the streets, somewhat 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



29 



pensive and perplexed, he was addressed by a person 
apparently come from the country, who inquired, whe- 
ther or not he was Mr. Henry Erskine ? He answered 
in the affirmative, and asked what he had to say. " I 
have a letter for you/' was the reply. The letter, 
which was immediately delivered, had seven Scots du- 
catoons inclosed in it, and consisted of the few follow- 
ing words : " Sir, receive this from a sympathising 
friend : Farewell." Mr. Erskine invited the bearer to 
accompany him to an adjoining house of entertainment 
and drink with him ; and no one else being pre- 
sent, proceeded to inquire with earnestness, who his 
kind benefactor was, that he might return him thanks. 
The honest man, however, replied, that he must 
be excused from mentioning the name ; for secre- 
cy was enjoined, and he could not betray his trust. 
Mr. Erskine, anxious to form at least some plausible 
conjecture regarding the unknown friend to whom he 
was indebted for this seasonable aid, then began to ask 
him to what part of the country he himself belonged. 
But the man wishing, it appears, to get rid of Mr. 
Erskine's importunity, begged him to stop a little, while 
he went out* Being once gone, however, he returned 
no more ; and who that generous benefactor was, the 
grateful recipient of his bounty could never discover. 
According to Mr. Veitch's account, the worthy man 
had at this time brought one of his daughters to Edin- 
burgh for the purpose of receiving education ; and the 
gift of his sympathising friend " was very helpful both 
to his daughter and family." 

At another time, his money falling short in the course 
of a journey on foot, he was in danger of being expos- 
ed to much inconvenience. But, as he walked on, he 



so 



MEMOIR OF 



stepped aside towards a bush of rushes ; and, when at- 
tempting to fix his staff in the marshy ground, he heard 
something tinkle at the end of it. On stooping down 
to examine the spot, he found two half-crowns, which 
did him good service on his way home. 

One instance more remains ; which, though omitted 
by his son and by Dr. Calamy, is related by Mr. Veitch. 
Mr. Erskine, when travelling from Edinburgh to Or- 
miston, to attend a numerous gathering of Presbyte- 
rians on a week-day, fell in with some country people 
on their way to the meeting ; and began to converse 
with them about their high privilege, in having such a 
minister, and such stated opportunities of public wor- 
ship, continued with them, when so many others were 
deprived of these advantages ; and to remind them how 
greatly this distinguishing mercy, if not suitably improv- 
ed, would aggravate their final condemnation. The jour- 
ney being accomplished a considerable time previously 
to the hour of meeting, a wealthy man in the company 
invited him to take some victuals with him; and, 
while they were sitting together, he proceeded to say, 
i 4 God has given me an abundant share of worlcly good, 
yet formerly I never had a heart to give any part of it 
to his people in want ; but, since I saw and heard you, 
the Lord has opened my heart, and disposed me to 
open my purse for the relief of the godly." At the same 
moment, he verified his profession by his conduct, and 
urged this man of God to accept of a considerable sum; 
which not merely served to relieve his necessities, but 
gladdened his spirit, as a fruit and evidence of the di- 
vine blessing, that had rendered his instructions effec- 
tual for producing a salutary change on the heart of a 
worldling. 



THE REV. HENRY EKSKINE. 



31 



Real dignity of character, let it be remembered, is 
fully consistent with indigent circumstances, and with 
the grateful acceptance of charitable supplies. The 
Saviour himself condescended to undergo the hardships 
of penury ; and " women ministered to him of their sub- 
stance." Thousands of whom the world was not wor- 
thy, have chosen rather to submit to the humbling ne- 
cessity of being indebted to sympathising Christians for 
subsistence to themselves and their families, than to re- 
ceive large benefices, at the expense of making ship- 
wreck of faith and a good conscience. The poverty of 
those spiritual and conscientious men, instead of merit- 
ing contempt, entitles their memory to more than double 
veneration ; and without question, the merciful interpo- 
sitions of Providence for their relief afforded them exqui- 
site delight. " I make not the least doubt," says a writer 
formerly quoted, " that they enjoyed far more satisfac- 
tion and comfort in these tokens of God's caring for them, 
than the richest prelates did in all their revenues." * 

Of the numerous host of excellent ministers, who were 
ejected from their charges by the sweeping act of uni- 
formity 1662, commonly called the Bartholomew Act, 
a large majority had gone to their long home, before 
the memorable Revolution of 1688 took place. The 
subject of this memoir was one of the few that were 
spared to witness that happy era. He soon after re- 
ceived a call to the parish of Chirnside ; to which he 
was, in consequence, translated from Whitsom ; and 
where he continued to labour with zeal and success 
till the day of his death. 

* Christ. Mag. vol. vii. p. 183. 



32 



MEMOIR OF 



The town of Chirnside being only at the distance of 
about four miles east from Whitsom, there is reason to 
presume that a certain proportion of those who had 
formerly been his hearers at Rivelaw, still enjoyed the 
advantage of his ministry. 

The name Chirnside is understood to denote a 
place hard by a chern or cairn ; and it appears that se- 
veral cairns, or rude sepulchral monuments, erected by 
Saxons and Danes, still exist in the parish and neigh- 
bourhood. The village stands on a beautiful hill. In 
1740, the population of the whole parish seems not to 
have exceeded six hundred souls. Yet, ever since the 
year 1581, Chirnside has been the seat of a Presbyte- 
ry. The church is of great antiquity ; and though it 
has undergone several repairs, and received an addition, 
dated 1769, the pulpit, judging from its form and ap- 
pearance, % seems to have undergone no alteration since 
it was occupied by Mr. Erskine. " That the church 
may be two or three centuries old," says a late minister 
of this parish,f " appears from the architrave, or coarse 
fluting of its principal door ; and also from a stone of 
about a foot square, taken down at the rebuilding of 
the east aisle or old choir, having a few rude and faded 
characters upon it ; which, just legible, are these, 
" Helpe the PVR," and the figures 1573 joined with 
them." 

Mr. Erskine's predecessor in Chirnside was Mr. Lat- 
tie, an Episcopal clergyman ; who, on the restoration 

* At least so late as September 1825, when the writer had the 
satisfaction to see it. 

+ The Rev. W alter Anderson, D. D. author of the account of 
this parish. Statist. Acc. of Scotland, vol. xiv. No. I. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



33 



of Presbytery in the Church of Scotland, retired to 
Eyemouth. His immediate successor was a Mr. Mil- 
lar, who was soon translated to Leith, and succeeded 
by Mr. Hume, whose ministry lasted forty-nine years ; 
and whose place, after his decease, was supplied by 
Dr. Anderson, the predecessor of Dr. Logan, the pre- 
sent incumbent. We are informed by Dr. Anderson, 
that " David Hume, though born in Edinburgh, was 
bred up from his infancy at Ninewells in this parish." 

Some records of session, written during Mr. Erskine's 
ministry, are still extant. In the first minute, dated 
10th May 1691, it is recorded that twelve respectable 
persons were set apart to the office of ruling elders. 
The subsequent minutes, which chiefly contain the par- 
ticulars of various cases of discipline, afford ample evi- 
dence of zeal and activity in his efforts to curb immo- 
rality, and promote good order in the parish. His la- 
bours among them, we trust, were not in vain. Their 
posterity have been commended for sincerity in reli- 
gion, for comparative sobriety, and for living peaceably 
together, notwithstanding diversity of religious persua- 
sion. While the bulk of the people continue attached to 
the established church, some of them have belonged 
to the Secession ever since its commencement ; and a 
Cameronian meeting-house has been erected in the 
middle of the village.* Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, 
if we may credit tradition, when they visited the south 
of Scotland, shortly after leaving the establishment, 
preached at Chirnside to a very large audience in the 
open air. 

Mr. Erskine's usefulness was not confined to his 
own parish. From his ardent zeal and undaunted bold- 

* Statist. Acc. of Scotland, as above. 



34 



MEMOIR OF 



ness in the cause of religion, he was frequently em- 
ployed by the Presbytery of Chirnside to preach in 
those parishes where the people were disaffected to the 
Presbyterian interest, and to take possession of churches 
to which Presbyterian ministers could not, without 
difficulty, obtain access. In some instances, he preached 
in places of this sort, it is said, when showers of stones 
were breaking in upon him at the doors and windows. 
Such was the manner in which he was treated, in par- 
ticular, by the people of Coldingham; and it was 
thought remarkable that the last sermon he ever preached 
was addressed to that people, from whom he had expe- 
rienced this harsh treatment. The sermon, which was 
delivered on a Monday after the administration of the 
Lord's supper, had for its text these solemn words of 
reproof, Dan. v. 27, " Thou art weighed in the balances, 
and art found wanting." 

The same God, who sustained and honoured this 
faithful man amidst the various trials of his life, signally 
countenanced him at the approach of death. Eminent 
Christians have not always been enabled to bear a dying 
testimony in favour of religion, corresponding to the 
wishes and hopes of friends, who had beheld the strik- 
ing evidences of religious principle exhibited in their 
life and conduct. But this worthy minister's deport- 
ment, in the immediate prospect of his change, was 
singularly calculated to glorify God, and to produce 
salutary impressions on his family, his people, and all 
around. He was seized with a fever, which terminated 
in his dissolution within the short space of two weeks. 
Fully anticipating the event, he set his house in order, 
and afterwards called for his children. Of the nine 
who were then alive, it was the privilege of six to be 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



35 



present. With a heavenly authority, he exhorted them 
to choose the good part, and to cleave firmly to the 
cause of truth. As a dying man, and a dying father, 
he warmly recommended the good ways of God ; told 
them that the advantages of serious religion infi- 
nitely outweigh all the difficulties that can possibly at- 
tend it; and assured them that as he never had re- 
pented, so more especially then, when standing on the 
brink of eternity, he did not repent, of any hardships 
he had endured in his Master's service. " I know," 
added he, " that I am going to heaven, and if you fol- 
low my footsteps, you and I shall have a happy meet- 
ing there, ere long." Having thus encouraged them to 
devote themselves to the service of God, he caused 
them, in succession, from the eldest to the youngest, to 
kneel down by his bed-side, and taking them in his 
arms, solemnly engaged them to be servants to the God 
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his own God, and 
to keep his ways, as ever they would look him in the 
face in the great day of judgment. Then, like dying 
Jacob, he blessed them ; and commending his wife and 
them to the care of divine providence, he committed 
his spirit into the hands of his God and Father, who 
had cared for him all his life long. In this joyful and 
triumphant manner he died on the 10th of August 
1696, in the seventy-second year of his age. " Mark 
the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of 
that man is peace." 

By the benign influences of the same divine Spirit, 
who caused this pious clergyman so nobly to exempli- 
fy the power of faith and of sanctified natural affection 
on the bed of death, his dying conduct, and his last 
counsels and charge seem to have been rendered truly 



36 



MEMOIR OF 



beneficial to several of his children. His son Ebenezer 
pleasantly refers to it in his diary as follows : " Port- 
moak, Oct. 20, 1708. — My wife and I began to dis- 
course about spiritual matters ; and the Lord made 
this conversation sweet to my soul. He helped me 
to speak of his goodness, and to declare the riches 
of his grace, in some measure, to my own soul. He 
made me tell how my father took engagements of me 
on his death-bed, and did cast me upon the provi- 
dence of his God, and how the Lord had taken care 
of me, and never suffered me to want." — His son 
Ralph, in a record of his exercises on a day of per- 
sonal humiliation and prayer, which he observed in 
November 1731, in reviewing "the many instances of 
the Lord's favour towards him, and his own rebellions 
against him," — has this expression, among others; "I 
took special notice of the Lord's drawing out my heart 
to wards him, at my father s death " His daughter, Mrs. 
Balderston, in fine, then residing in Edinburgh, when 
relating her experience during the year 1696, after hav- 
ing mentioned the birth and baptism of one of her sons, 
adverts to the loss of her father in the following terms : 
" About a month after that, my father died, which I 
found very sharp to me ; but his being kept faithful to 
the death, and the sweet and triumphant close he had, 
mitigated my grief." 

His mortal remains were interred in the churchyard 
of Chirnsicle ; and, as Dr. Anderson affirms, " not in 
the burial-ground of the Episcopal ministers, and as 
such, resigned to their successors in office, but in con- 
siderable separation from it."* That this arrangement 



Statist. Acc. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



37 



was adopted in consequence of any orders on the part 
of Mr. Erskine, is not alleged. Yet when we reflect 
on the state of ecclesiastical parties in that age, and on 
the many circumstances calculated to generate alienation 
of feeling between Episcopalians and Presbyterians, it 
is in no degree wonderful, that, for a time, there was a 
mutual aversion, even to "fraternity of coffins and bones, 
betwixt the clergy of the two churches." 

A table-stone was placed over Mr. Erskine's grave, 
on which the following Latin Epitaph, with the subjoin- 
ed translation, is engraved : 

"M. S. 

M. HENRICI ARE SKINT, 

PASTORIS CHIRtfSIDIS, 

Qui obiit 10 Augusti 1696. 
Miaiis suae 72. 
, Sanctus Areskinus, saxo qui conditur isto, 
Est lapis eaterni vivus in Mde Dei. 
Non astu lapis hie, technave volubilis ulla, 
Quippe fide, in Petra constabilitus erat. 

Under this stone, there lies a Stone, 

Living with God above : 
Built on a Rock was such a one, 

Whom force, nor fraud, could move."* 

* This epitaph has been ascribed to Mr. Ralph Erskine, by the 
author of the Statistical Account of Chirnside ; who refers to it 
as a specimen of his " vein for Latin and English poetry." It is 
also placed at the front of a number of similar productions, in- 
serted at the conclusion of Ralph's poetical works. But in the 
u Abbreviate," written by Ebenezer in 1715, it is expressly attri- 
buted to the Rev. John Dysert, of Coldingham. Very probably, 
however, Ralph, who was only eleven years old at the time of 
his father's death, made some alterations on it at a subsequent 
period. 



38 



MEMOIR OF 



This stone was renewed by Ebenezer and Ralph, 
when they visited that part of the country, upwards of 
thirty or forty years after the death of their father. The 
late Rev. Robert Campbell, of Stirling, when he made 
a visit to Chirnsicle in the year 1764, finding that the 
initial letters M. S. had been omitted or obliterated, 
"was attentive enough to employ a workman to supply 
the defect.* About eight years since, an estimable in- 
habitant of Chirnside,f observing that the whole mo- 
nument was greatly defaced, put himself to the trouble 
and expense of repairing it. In consequence of the 
laudable exertions, we have the pleasure to add, of the 
same individual, seconded by a few other gentlemen, 
both of the clergy and laity, an elegant monumental 
pillar, about twenty feet high, closely adjoining the ori- 
ginal stone, was erected in the year 1825. The in- 
scription on this new monument is as follows : — 

ERECTED 

By Subscription 
1825. 

3m fHentorg *>£ 

THE REVEREND HENRY ERSKINE 
A descendant of the family of Mar 
And some time Minister of this parish 

Who was eminently distingnished 
By incorruptible integrity in private life 
Undaunted zeal in the service of his heavenly Master 
And steady attachment to the religious principles 
Of the Church of Scotland, 

* This fact, which, however trivial it may seem, is creditable 
to the memory of Mr. Campbell, we learned from an original let- 
ter, written by himself to Mrs. Scott, of Grateshall, in 1764. 

•f John Wilson, Esq. 



THE REV. HEXRY ERSKINE. 



39 



At a time when the profession of these principles 
Often led to imprisonment and exile ; 
Both of which he himself endured 
With exemplary resignation and fortitude. 



He was born at Dryburgh in the year 1624, 
Ordained at Cornhill in 1649, 
Ejected in 1662, and persecuted 
For nonconformity to prelacy, 
Admitted soon after the Revolution in 1688 

To be Minister of Chirnside, 
Where he continued in the faithful discharge 
Of his pastoral duty 
TiU 10th August 1696, 
When his holy and exemplary life 
Terminated in a peaceful and triumphant death, 
In the 72d year of his age, and 47th of his ministry.* 

Mr. Erskine was twice married. With regard to his 
first wife, we regret that our inquiries have been very- 
unsuccessful. We know neither her name, nor her pa- 
rentage. His marriage with her, however, took place, 
it appears, before the year 1653; and she lived for some 
time after his ejection from Cornhill : for, as has been 
stated, he declined the invitation of the good people of 
Harwich, to settle among them as their pastor, because 
Mrs. Erskine was unwilling to remove to so great a 
distance from her relatives, and her native country. 
For aught we know to the contrary, she may have been 
spared with him till about 1672. 

The accounts of his second wife, Margaret Halcro, a 
native of Orkney, are much more ample, We are cre- 

* It is intended, if it is not already done, to subjoin a few ad- 
ditional lines on the other side of the pillar, stating that Mr. 
Erskine was the father of Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, of the 
Secession. 



40 



MEMOIR OF 



dibly informed, that she was the great-grand-daughter 
of Harry Halcro of that ilk, and Lady Barbara Stewart ; 
that Harry Halcro was a lineal descendant of Halcro, 
Prince of Denmark ; and that Lady Barbara was the 
youngest daughter of Robert, Earl of Orkney, son of 
James V.* But Margaret Halcro possessed a far high- 
er distinction than the blood of nobles or of kings can 
impart — sincere and decided piety. A certificate she 
received at the time of her leaving Orkney ; an exact 
copy of which has been found in one of Mr. Ralph's 
Note-books, bears a satisfactory testimony at once to 
her pedigree, and to her pious and virtuous conduct.f 

* This statement respecting Margaret Halcro's descent, was 
given a few years since to Mr. Walter Wardlaw, Glasgow, by 
Robert Xicolson, Esq. Kirkwall, Writer, and late Sheriff-substi- 
tute of that county, a gentleman well acquainted with the anti- 
quities of Orkney. 

■f- This ancient certificate is expressed in the following terms : — 
"At the Kirk of Erie, May 27, 1666. 

u To all and sundry into whose hands these presents shall come, 
be it known, that the bearer hereof, Margaret Kalero, lawful 
daughter to the deceased Hugh Halcro, in the isle of Weir, and 
Margaret Stewart, his spouse, hath lived in the parish of Evie 
from her infancy, in good fame and report ; is a discreet, godly 
young woman, and, to our certain knowledge, free of all scandal, 
reproach, or blame. As also, that she is descended, of her fa- 
ther, of the house of Halcro, which is a very ancient and honour- 
able family in the Orkneys — the noble and potent Earl of Early, 
and Lairds of Dun, in Angus ; and by her mother, of the Laird 
of Burscobe, in Galloway. In witness whereof, we, the Minis- 
ter and Clerk, have subscribed these presents at Evie, day, month, 
year of God, and place foresaid, and give way to all other noble- 
men, gentlemen, and ministers, to do the same. 

(Sic Subscr.) Mr. Morisox, Minister of Evie. 
George Ballextixe. 
Ja^ies Trail. 

William Ballexdex. 16C6. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



41 



Probably, she was born in the year 1647 ; removed 
from Orkney in 1686 ; and married Mr. Erskine about 
1674, in the twenty-seventh year of her age. Amidst 
the hardships which he continued to suffer, for ten or 
twelve years posterior to the date of this second mar- 
riage, she adorned her profession by Christian magna- 
nimity and patience. The bodily infirmities he was 
subject to, his pecuniary difficulties, and the severe 
persecutions he endured, supplied many opportuni- 
ties of discovering, at the same time, her resignation 
to the will of God, and her affection and sympathy 
for her excellent husband. Even after his settlement 
at Chirnside, his living was scarcely adequate to 
the exigencies of his numerous family ; and after his 
decease, not possessing those advantages which, about 
half a century after, were secured for the widows and 
families of the Scotish clergy, Mrs. Erskine for some 
time experienced the trials incident to a necessitous and 
disconsolate widow, having a number of children to 
maintain and educate. Under these trying circum- 
stances, however, she was enabled to conduct herself in 
a manner worthy of her character ; and the numberless 
efforts and anxieties of maternal affection were at last 
abundantly recompensed by the distinguished excel- 
lence and usefulness of her sons Ebenezer and Ralph, 
and by the filial gratitude she met with from them. 
She remained at Chirnside till summer 1704. After 
that period, we find her occasionally residing in Edin- 
burgh ; but mostly in the houses of her sons, at Port- 
moak and Dunfermline. It was under Ebenezer 's roof 
that she spent tlie greater part of her time : and here, 
after surviving her husband nearly thirty years, she re- 
signed her earthly existence, with a " hope full of im- 



42 



MEMOIR OF 



mortality," on the 14th January 1725, in the seventy- 
eighth year of her age. Her remains were deposited in 
the chapel ground of Scotlandwell, a village in the pa- 
rish of Portmoak ; where an appropriate Latin inscrip- 
tion, somewhat defaced, is still to be seen, carved on a 
large horizontal stone, which her sons erected in me- 
mory of a mother, endeared by her sufferings in the 
cause of religion, as well as by her maternal feelings 
and Christian graces. The stone itself, which lies pa- 
rallel to a similar monument, at the distance of only 
one foot and a half, commemorative of Alison Turpie, 
Ebenezer's first wife, is now considerably dilapidated, 
and ought to be repaired. * 

It pleased divine providence to give Mr. Erskine of 
Chirnside children, both by his first and his second 
wife. Though we cannot state precisely the number of 
either of the two families, we know that a son of the 
second marriage died a short time before his father, and 
that of the rest, there were, in all, nine that survived 
him. 

We have no positive accounts of the children of the 
first Mrs. Erskine, except with regard to two of them, 
a son and a daughter. The son, whose name was 
Philip, made choice of the clerical profession ; but, 
contrary to the wishes and example of his father, con- 
formed to the Church of England ; and, after holding 
other situations, became Rector of Knaresdale, in the 
county of Northumberland. Our only source of infor- 
mation respecting this member of the family, is a copy 
of a letter found in one of Ralph's manuscripts, which 
he wrote to Philip in the year 1719, after having re- 

* See the inscription in the Appendix, No. II. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSK1NE. 



43 



ceived from him, by a private opportunity, a brief me- 
morandum, stating in what manner any of his brothers 
in Scotland might, if they chose, transmit a letter to 
him. From Ralph's communication, which is express- 
ed in candid and affectionate terms, it appears that he 
had never even seen the Rector but at Chirnside, when 
he was so young a child that he could recollect nothing 
of him ; and that, from their having received no an- 
swer to a letter which Ebenezer, while chaplain to the 
Earl of Rothes, had written to him many years before, 
and committed to the care of two ladies, a Mrs. Dykes 
and a Mrs. Kerr, who assured him they were sisters to 
his brother's wife, they had both been apt to conclude 
that " his differing in principle had made him indiffer- 
ent to correspondence with them." " But now, having 
considered your memorandum," continues Ralph, " I 
began to allege, that, in all probability, such a letter 
had never come to your hand. But, however that 
were, and though I much regret what I cannot help, that 
your having joined in communion with a church, if not 
opposite to, yet many ways distinct from this, has, I 
fear, rendered it impracticable or improbable, that we 
can be brethren in judgment and opinion, as well as in 
nature and blood ; yet I reckon a brotherly communi- 
cation to be duty, abstracting from all known and open 
differences that are betwixt the Church of Scotland, 
and that whereof you are now, as I perceive, an emi- 
nent member ; especially since I hope there is a cor- 
dial agreement between us in fundamental points, that 
are of absolute necessity to eternal salvation. And the 
reason why I hope so, is not only because, so long as 
the church of England adhere to, and rightly explain 
their thirty-nine Articles, I do not see that they swerve 



44 



MEMOIR OF 



so much from the scriptural standard, or differ from us, 
in point of doctrine, as we reckon they do in other 
things ; but also because I may well suppose you want- 
ed not the best opportunities to imbibe the best of prin- 
ciples in your education. This, therefore, is to show 
how willing I am to correspond with you, to hear of 
your welfare, and to be informed anent the state of your 
family." After some details regarding his own family, 
and other relatives, and his manner of discharging his 
office in the large parish of Dunfermline, he concludes 
with these words : " Saluting you with all due and bro- 
therly respect, together with your consort and children, 
and desiring to hear from you. — Wishing the Lord 
may guide you into all truth, and bless you and your's 
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus, I remain, Rev. Dear Brother, your's most af- 
fectionately, R. E." — Whether this fraternal epistle 
met with the attention it deserved, or whether any far- 
ther correspondence took place between the English 
Rector and his half-brothers, the two Scotish ministers, 
we are unable to say. 

It is happily in our power to give more satisfactory 
information regarding Jean, the daughter of the first 
Mrs. Erskine. She is the Mrs. Balderston mention- 
ed repeatedly above. Her father, amidst all his pe- 
cuniary difficulties, not only made conscience of giving 
his children a religious and moral education, but ex- 
erted himself most laudably to furnish them with those 
means of literary improvement, which might qualify 
them for holding respectable situations in life. En- 
dowed with that talent and activity by which the advan- 
tages of education are turned to a good account, Jean 
first acquitted herself creditably as a governess ; and 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



45 



then opened a school in Edinburgh, where, for a few 
years, she taught young ladies with considerable repu- 
tation and success. About the year 1687, she gave 
her hand to Mr. George Balderston, a surgeon, and 
sometime one of the magistrates of the city, a man of 
decided piety and excellent temper, who was spared 
with her till December 1720. Having survived her 
husband about eighteen years, she died on the 19th 
October 1788, in the 86th year of her age, leaving a 
son named George, who has descendants still residing 
in Edinburgh. * 

At what time, and by what means, Mrs. Balderston 
was first impressed with the absorbing importance of 
religion, has been shown from her own statement, f 
The vital principle then implanted in her heart, be- 
came increasingly vigorous and fruitful, till she deserv- 
ed the eulogy given her by her brother Ralph, in a 
brief memorandum of her death — " an eminent Christ- 
ian, of signal experience." From her own diary, which 
we have had the satisfaction to peruse, it abundantly 
appears that she was a most attentive hearer of the 
gospel ; delighted in all the institutions of religion, 
public and private ; watched the movements of the heart 
with a vigilant eye ; and was peculiarly earnest and 
persevering in prayer ; exemplary in every relation, and 
equally distinguished for humility and fortitude. By 
an extensive circle of Christian acquaintances, as well 
in the higher as the lower walks of life, she was held in 

* William C. Balderston, Esq. W. S. ; and the son and daugh- 
ters of Dr. Simpson, Tron Church, by the first Mrs. Simp- 
son, are the great grandchildren of Mrs. Balderston. 

t Pages 13, 14. 



46 



MEMOIR OF 



great estimation as " a mother in Israel." It was her 
honour and happiness, for example, to enjoy the inti- 
mate and confidential friendship of the Rev. Thomas 
Boston of Ettrick, and of the pious Colonel John 
Blackader, Deputy-Governor of Stirling Castle. Mr. 
Boston, in his Memoirs, makes repeated mention of her 
in the most favourable terms. Let the following quo- 
tation suffice. When narrating the circumstances of 
his visit to Edinburgh in December 1719, and alluding 
to his elaborate treatise on the Hebrew Points, $ he 
thus expresses himself respecting her : " Mrs. B alder - 
ston, to whose prayers I recommended my study of the 
accentuation, with the rest of my case, was the daugh- 
ter of Mr. Henry Erskine, whom I account my father 
in Christ, and a person eminent for piety, Christian ex- 
perience, and communion with God." f Col. Black- 
ader regarded her with the same esteem, and put a si- 
milar value on her prayers ; considering them as, un- 
der Providence, a powerful means of defence, amidst 
the perils of war, and the moral hazards of a military 
life. In the year 1705, he wrote to her a letter from 
the continent, dated " Treves, May 19th," which con- 
tains the following expressions : "I know I need not 
bid you mind me ; for, as you tell me, I am laid on you 
as a charge, that you must mind me ; and pray go on, 
for you are well paid for your pains. You serve a good 
Master, and get something for yourself, when you ply 
the throne of grace for your friends. The Lord's bless- 
ing rest on you, and your family." J 

* Stigmatologia, &c. 

f Memoirs of T. Boston, A. M. Period xi. p. 358. See also 
p. 364. 

i Crichton's Life and Diary of Col. J. B. ch. xi. pp. 241-2. 
See Appendix, No. III. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



47 



Of Mr. Erskine's family by Margaret Halcro, his se- 
cond wife, three, we know, were sons. Ebenezer and 
Ralph, the two younger, were preserved alive for emi- 
nent usefulness in the church. Henry, an older bro- 
ther, a promising young man, died, prematurely, in the 
twentieth year of his age ; and his remains were de- 
posited in the house of silence, by his sorrowing father, 
exactly a month preceding the termination of his own 
mortal career. Our information respecting this young 
Henry is but limited. He was born, as may be ga- 
thered from his epitaph, in the year 1676 ; while the 
lancet and sand-glass, carved on a small perpendicular 
stone, situated hard by his father's new monument, suffi- 
ciently confirm the tradition, that he had directed his 
attention to medical studies. The entire inscription is 
as follows : 

Young Henry Areskin's 
Corpse lies here. 
(O Stone, keep in record 

his dust with thee. 
His soul above, we hope, 
is with the Lord.) 
Who departed this life July 9- 
1696. of his age 20. 

Margaret Halcro had several daughters; but their 
number and their names, can scarcely be ascertained. 
Of the nine children, including both families, that were 
alive at the time of their father's death, four have just 
been named — Philip, Jean, Ebenezer, and Ralph. With 
regard to the other five, of most of them no vestige can 
now be traced. The private manuscripts we have seen, 
supply no intelligence respecting them ; and no paro- 



48 



MEMOIR OF 



chial register of births and deaths — which, had such a 
record existed, would probably have included notices of 
any of them that might have died in childhood — was at 
that period, kept at Chirnsicle.* One of Ralph's Note- 
books, however, contains the substance of a sermon on 
Zech. xiv. 8. preached, about the commencement of the 
eighteenth century, by a Mr. More, whom he styles 
" my brother-in-law ;" which seems to imply that Mrs. 
More was a sister of his. Another sister, whose name 
was probably Margaret, resided a number of years with 
her brother at Dunfermline ; and died there at the be- 
ginning of October 1713. This sister appears to have 
greatly endeared herself to Ebenezer and Ralph ; and 
in a subsequent part of this volume, we shall have oc- 
casion to notice the tender solicitude which, during her 
last illness, these affectionate brothers jointly manifest- 
ed respecting her eternal welfare. 

To these accounts of Henry Erskine's family, it seems 
right to add some slight notices of several Presbyterian 
ministers, whom he numbered amongst his particular 
friends, and endeared fellow-sufferers. One of these 
was his nephew, the Rev. William Erskixe, formerly 
mentioned.-)- We have seen, that, about the year 1675, 
when this good man acted the part of a Barnabas to his 
cousin, Jean Erskine, he was residing, probably un- 
molested, at Dryburgh ; where, we doubt not, the uncle 
and nephew cheered and edified each other, by the fre- 
quent and delightful intercourse of Christian friendship. 

* We are informed, on good authority, that there was no re- 
gistration of births, deaths, and marriages, in the parish of Chirn- 
side, at that time, nor for many years after. 

f Page 14. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



49 



But by venturing occasionally to preach the Gospel, 
William incurred the displeasure of the existing autho- 
rities, and was, in consequence, subjected to severe and 
protracted imprisonment. Very probably he had suf- 
fered in this form for several years, prior to the time of 
that interview with Henry's daughter ; and, after a short 
interval of liberty, he was apprehended, it appears, and 
condemned to confinement in the Castle of Stirling. 
" On the 3d August, 1676," says Wodrow, " Mr. Wil- 
liam Erskine and the laird of Bedlane, prisoners in 
Stirling Castle, are ordered to be transported to Dum- 
barton."* The same valuable historian informs us, with 
respect to this " worthy presbyterian minister," as he 
is pleased to call him, that orders were given for his re- 
lease in the year 1679 : " Mr. William Erskine, prisoner 
in Stirling more than three years, (some papers before 
me say he was in prison, with little intermission, full ten 
years,) is ordered to be liberate."-^ There is ground 
to conclude, however, that these orders had been ei- 
ther disregarded, or speedily reversed ; for, in a subse- 
quent chapter of the same history, the author makes 
the following statement : " April 8, 1684, Mr. William 
Erskine presents a petition to the Council, showing 
" that he had been now seven years close prisoner in 
Blackness Castle and other places, and that merely for 
preaching the Gospel, as he had received power from 
Christ; and that he was now turned valetudinary — 
therefore craving the Council's compassion." All they 
do, is to allow him to walk about the castle, and take 
the air with a keeper. ^ Yet some time after, he 

* Vol. i. Book ii. ch. 11. p. 425. 
f Vol. ii. Book iii. ch. 3. p. 110. 
% Vol. ii. Book iii. ch. 8. p. 352. 
D 



50 



MEMOIR OF 



reaped the benefit of the Act of Indemnity passed by 
King James. Mrs. Balderston, in her Diary, accord- 
ingly, having detailed the circumstances of her marriage, 
thus continues ; "At that time there came some enlarge- 
ment to the people of God, and my cousin, Mr. Areskine, 
came out of prison, and came and stayed at my house 
a pretty while ; which was sweet and edifying company 
to me." Soon after the Revolution, he was admitted 
minister of the Tron Church, Edinburgh ; but his con- 
stitution having been materially injured by his previous 
sufferings, he rested from his labours after a period of 
about ten years ; and in 1701, was succeeded by the 
Rev. George Meldrum. Elizabeth West expresses her 
esteem and affection for him, in the following terms : 
" I was for a considerable time under the ministry of 
Mr. William Erskine. All that I can observe during 
the time he preached among us was, that I attained to 
a great delight in hearing the word, which wrought up- 
on my affections, that I durst not neglect secret prayer ; 
where sometimes I would be very tender, and shed 
some tears ; then I thought there was no doubt but I 
was converted. It pleased the Lord to remove this 
faithful servant by death."* 

The Rev. William Veitch — mentioned also in a 
foregoing part of this Memoir, — who, subsequently to 
the Revolution, ministered first at Peebles, and then 
at Dumfries, though not a relative, was a much es- 
teemed friend of Henry Erskine. The mutual attach- 
ment subsisting betwixt them, founded in congeniality of 
views and dispositions, was strengthened by the fami- 
liar intercourse of several years, and by the sufferings 
which both endured in the same sacred cause. Mr. 

* Memoirs of Eliz. West, p. 2. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



51 



Erskine having been one of a small group of presbyte- 
rian ministers, by whom he was privately ordained in 
the days of persecution, Mr. Veitch never ceased to re- 
vere him as a spiritual father ; and many years after his 
death, he expressed his regard for his memory, as we 
have noticed, by writing that account of remarkable 
providences concerning him, which is still preserved. 
To detail here the particulars of Mr. Veitch's history, 
would, nevertheless, be quite superfluous. With sin- 
cere pleasure we refer the reader, not only to Mr. 
Wodrow's account, * but also to the memoir of that 

| pious clergyman written by himself, lately edited and 
ably illustrated by a celebrated biographer. According 
to a statement by Dr. M'Crie, Mr. Veitch, at the time of 

i his admission to the charge of Peebles, September 18, 
1690, " promised to bring a certificate from a famous 
minister's hand, now in Scotland, who was one of that 
number who gave him ordination." " I have no doubt," 

I adds the learned writer, " that Mr. Henry Erskine is 
the person from whom he offered to procure a certifi- 
cate. In the paper which he appears to have drawn 
up for the use of Wodrow, Mr. Veitch states, that Mr. 
Erskine assisted at his ordination. They were inti- 

i mate friends : the former was frequently at Mr. Veitch's 
house in Northumberland, and, on these occasions, 

, used to entertain him and his wife with anecdotes re- 
specting the straits into which he was often brought 
with his numerous family, and the singular manner in 
which he was extricated from them." f 

Amongst the valued friends of Mr. Erskine, we must 

* Vol. ii. book iii. chap. i. pp. 5-8. 

f Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch and George Brysson, writ- 
ten by themselves, &c. p. 203. 



52 



MEMOIR OF 



certainly include the Rev. Luke Ogle ; who, as re- 
lated above, was his fellow-prisoner at Wooler and New- 
castle. After his settlement at Chirnside too, they pro- 
bably assisted each other frequently in the ministra- 
tions of the sanctuary. They were lovely in their 
lives, and in death they were scarcely divided ; both 
having gone to their long home in the course of the 
same year 1696, — Mr. Ogle in April, and Mr. Erskine 
in August. Mr. Ogle was minister for some time at 
Inghram, and thence removed to Berwick-upon-Tweed, 
where he discharged his duty with exemplary faithfulness, 
and had " a great interest in the affections of the peo- 
ple." His unbending fidelity, however, to what he 
esteemed the cause of truth, and the bold testimonies 
he bore against the errors of popery and prelacy, ex- 
posed him to violent persecution. Some time after 
his ejection in 1662, he went to London, and com- 
plained of several instances of cruel treatment he 
had met with, to General Monk, who, when resid- 
ing at Berwick, had shown him much kindness and re- 
spect. The General told him, that if he would con- 
form, he would use his interest to make him a Bishop ; 
but, if he refused, he could do him no service. Mr. 
Ogle replied, in the spirit of meekness and humility, 
that the summit of his ambition was to live peaceably 
among his own people, but if that could not be obtain- 
ed, he must submit to Providence. For some years 
he preached privately at Bousden, where he had a small 
estate ; but even there he did not escape annoyance. A 
few years before the Revolution, an invitation being given 
him in consequence of the liberty granted by King 
James, he returned to Berwick, and collected a nume- 
rous congregation ; and here he remained till his death, 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKIXE. 



53 



which took place in the sixty-seventh year of his age. 
Though called to Kelso, and afterwards to Edinburgh, 
nothing could induce him to leave Berwick, " where 
" God had signally supported, owned, and blessed him.' ' 
" He was a man of great learning," says Dr. Calamy, 
" and particularly well-skilled in ecclesiastical history." 
He was a laborious, judicious, and affectionate preach- 
er ; and a wise and prudent person for government. 
He well understood the art of preaching to all sorts of 
hearers ; could inform the judicious without racking 
the understanding of the less knowing, and could teach 
the ignorant so as to edify the most intelligent."* 

The Rev. William Violand is also entitled to a 
place among Henry Erskine's associates. This was 
the name of the minister whom he employed to baptize 
his son Ralph, in the month of April 1685 ;f and in all 
probability he is the same to whom Wodrow gives the 
name of William Violant. In that author's roll of 
Scotish clergymen that were n on- conformists to prelacy, 
he is mentioned as minister of Ferry-port- on- Craig, in 
the Presbytery of St. Andrew's, and Synod of Fife; 
and as one of those who were ejected from their pa- 
rishes by the act of council passed at Glasgow 16624 
From another part of that history, it appears he after- 
wards became an indulged minister at Camnethan, but 
again felt the bitterness of cruel persecution. A com- 
pany of people going home from a conventicle at 
Blackloch, protected by a few armed men, had passed 
by his place of worship on a Sabbath evening ; and be- 

* See Dr. Calamy's account, vol. ii. pp. 500-503. 
+ See the account of R. Erskine prefixed to the 8vo. edition of 
his works. 

$ Wodrow's Hist. vol. i. Ap. No. 37, p. 77. 



54 



MEMOIR OF 



cause the good man had not deemed it proper to violate 
at once the rights of conscience and the sanctity of the 
Lord's day, by giving immediate information against 
those " rebels/' added to the heinous delinquency of 
preaching in some instances " without his parish 
church," and of baptizing children belonging to other 
parishes, the merciless rulers determined no longer to 
show him forbearance. His Majesty's Privy Council 
ordered him to be committed to prison ; and, on the 
30th July 1684, they pronounced sentence against him, 
declaring his indulgence to be null and void, and oblig- 
ing him to leave the kingdom. Wodrow describes him 
as envied for his uncommon learning and worth, and 
distinguished for the meekness of his temper, and the 
usefulness of his ministrations.* Shortly after the 
Council had condemned him to exile, he seems to have 
removed to the north of England, where he had the 
opportunity of seeing Mr. Erskine, and was no doubt 
refreshed by his sympathy and friendship. He sur- 
vived the Revolution ; but the particulars of his sub- 
sequent history we have not learned. 

The only other friend of Mr. Erskine that remains to 
be noticed here, is the Rev. John Dysert, of Colding- 
ham, who not only delighted to associate with him 
when alive, but expressed his esteem, after his death, 
as we have seen, by composing an inscription for his 
tomb. He was ordained minister of the parish of Lang- 
ton, and afterwards translated to Coldingham. Fervent 
piety, a benevolent spirit, and affable manners, appear 
to have been united in his character. Mr. Boston 
makes grateful mention of the warm friendship he ex- 

* Wodrow's Hist. vol. ii. B. iii. ch. 8, sect. 2. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 



55 



perienced from him, about the time of his settlement at 
Simprin. " I had no heart," says he, " to visit the 
ministers, knowing none of them I could unbosom my- 
self to, save Mr. C olden at Dunse, and Mr. Dysert at 
Coldingham/'* 

To the lovers of Christian truth, it would have pro- 
bably been gratifying to learn, that the subject of this 
memoir had published some sermons, or other theologi- 
cal works. From a laudable curiosity, they might have 
wished to see a specimen of those heavenly discourses 
which were blessed for the conversion of Mr. Boston 
and others. Most probably, however, Mr. Erskine, 
like the celebrated John Knox, judged himself better 
qualified to do good to the souls of men by the exer- 
tions of the living voice, than by the productions of his 
pen. None of his compositions, so far as the writer 
knows, were ever published, either by himself or by his 
descendants. Most of them seem to have shared the 
fate too common to valuable manuscripts, written by 
persons eminent for learning and piety. Relics of this 
description, alas ! are often scattered and lost, soon 
after the decease of their authors. If not recklessly 
committed to the flames, or, by a sordid economy, sold 
for waste paper, they are apt to be thrown aside into 
damp and airless corners, where they minister to the 
sustenance of moths, and speedily become illegible and 
useless. Whatever value may be placed on them by 
their original heirs, in the course of one or two gene- 
rations, they are frequently neglected, and suffered to 
perish. In some instances too, though highly prized 



* Boston's Memoirs, p. 62. See also pp. 64, 84. 



56 



MEMOIR OF 



by tlieir possessors, they are unhandsomely and unjust- 
ly detained by individuals, to whom they have been ge- 
nerously lent. 

With regard to Mr. Erskine, it has been stated that 
he " left behind him several manuscripts, elucidating 
difficult passages of scripture. But these having been 
written in Latin, none of them were ever published."* 
The manuscripts here referred to, no doubt, include 
the Latin Compend of Theology, formerly mentioned. f 
That work is, in our estimation, orthodox, correct, and 
very comprehensive ; but we have no cause to wonder 
that its publication has not been attempted, since the 
theological student has access to many valuable com- 
pends in the same language.^ With the exception of 
another volume, also noticed before, consisting of ex- 
tracts from various authors, we have not had the satis- 
faction to see any more of his manuscripts ; and, per- 
haps, these two volumes are the only ones extant. 
Whilst none of this faithful minister's compositions, ei- 
ther in Latin or English, have been given to the world, 
it is cheering, however, to reflect, that the precious 
fruits of his ministry are imperishable, and that his 
" name shall be held in everlasting remembrance." 
His " lack of service," too, in this respect, has, in a- 
dorable providence, been happily supplied by his sons, 
Ebenezer and Ralph, whom he cheerfully devoted to 
the christian ministry, whose future usefulness in the 
church he anticipated with pleasure on the bed of 
death ; and whose evangelical and devotional writings 

* Chalmers's Gen. Biograph. Diet. 
•f Page 15. 

$ Viz. those of Riissenius, Pictet, Marckius, and others. 



THE REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 57 

have not only proved a source of edification and com- 
fort to vast numbers of the pious for nearly a century 
past, but are likely, by the blessing of God, to be pro- 
ductive of great benefit to an extensive circle of readers 
during the course of many succeeding generations. * 

* See the Appendix, No. IV. 



THE END OF REV. HENRY ERSKINE's MEMOIR. 



THE LIFE AND DIARY 

OF THE 

REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, A.M. 

FATHER OF THE SECESSION CHURCH. 



THE LIFE AND DIARY 

OF THE 

REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, A. M. 



CHAPTER I. 

Mr. Erskine's Birth — His name Ebenezer — Education at the 
University of Edinburgh — Becomes Chaplain to the Earl of 
Rothes — License — Ordination at Portmoak — Marriage, 

The Reverend Ebenezer Erskine, as has been 
stated in the preceding Memoir, was a son of Henry 
Erskine of Chirnside and Margaret Halcro. His birth 
took place on the 22d June 1680. He was about four 
years younger than his brother Henry, who died in the 
twentieth year of his age ; and nearly five years older 
than Ralph. 

With regard to the spot of Ebenezer's nativity, differ- 
ent accounts have been given. In a short notice of him, 
inserted in a voluminous work, it is affirmed that he 
" was born in the prison of the Bass ;" * and this state- 
ment has been adopted by subsequent writers. A re- 
spectable biographer, having correctly stated that Mr. 

* Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Diet. vol. xiii. 



62 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



Henry Erskine was sentenced to the Bass, but reprieved 
on promising to leave the kingdom, thus continues: 
" His wife, however, appears to have been a prisoner in 
the Bass ; for I find that Ebenezer Erskine, the father 
of the Secession, was born here, and hence he got his 
name, which means a stone of help or remembrance, 
( Gazett. of Scotland " J * To whatever cause the re- 
port that this venerated person was born in that far- 
famed rock may be ascribed, or however much the name 
Ebenezer may have contributed to its currency, there 
seems little room to doubt, that it is one of those popu- 
lar but ill-founded traditions, respecting the birth of 
eminent men, which have originated in precipitance, 
and been upheld by credulity. Most probably he was 
born at Dryburgh. 4 This appears from the circum- 
stance, that so far as is known, his parents, during the 
year in which he was born, were residing at that vil- 
lage, free from any considerable annoyance. It was 
not before the year 1682, that his father was seized by 
Urquhart of Meld rum, and sentenced to imprisonment 
in the Bass. That sentence having been remitted in the 
way formerly mentioned, we have no evidence that ei- 
ther of his parents was, at any time, a prisoner in the 
Bass. It may be added, in fine, that though Ebenezer, 
in his Diary, repeatedly takes notice of the interesting 
import of his name, he never once alludes to the Bass as 
the place of his birth. 

The name Ebenezer, however, was probably given 
him by his parents, in testimony of their fervent grati- 
tude to that God, whose goodness and mercy had fol- 

* Crichton's Memoirs of the Rev. John Blackader, pp. 380-1. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



63 



lowed them amidst their numerous hardships, and con- 
strained them to erect a pillar of remembrance, saying, 
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." * This signifi- 
cant name appears to have been useful to himself, as 
well as to them ; reminding him of his obligations to 
praise God for merciful interpositions in his favour, and 
to place an unsuspecting confidence in his providence 
and grace, in every possible emergency. In a pious 
letter to his sister, Mrs. Balderston, dated April 13, 
1712, after alluding to the apprehensions excited amongst 
the Scotish clergy, by certain measures then adopted 
by the British cabinet, he expresses himself in the fol- 
lowing terms : " I would fain remember my own name 
Ebenezer, and hope that the Lord will be a help, and 
that he will do all for me in the evil day." f At ano* 
ther time, having recorded a narrow escape which he 
made June 9, 1721, when his horse, immediately after 
he had placed himself on the back of the animal, struck 
him violently on the face, and threw him backwards on 
the ground, he adds : — " O let me never forget his good- 
ness. Ebenezer ; hitherto hath the Lord helped." 

The particulars of Ebenezer's early life are but im- 
perfectly known. It is undoubted, however, that the 
proofs of capacity and indications of piety which he ex- 
hibited in childhood and youth, were highly gratifying 
to his excellent father, and that his views were, from the 
first, directed to the sacred office. Some time prior to 
his death, Henry Erskine was " heard to say that he 
would desire to live no longer than to see his son Eben- 
ezer, then in the 16th year of his age, succeeding 

* 1 Sam. vii. 12. 

■f" See the whole letter, ch. iii. 



64 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



him in the work of the ministry." * Under the vigilant 
and affectionate superintendence of his father, he was 
instructed in the first principles of literature, it is likely, 
at the public schools of Chirnside and its vicinity. Ha- 
ving received the preparatory education deemed neces- 
sary, he was enrolled as a student at the university of 
Edinburgh ; where, after a course of four years devot- 
ed to classical and philosophical studies, which even 
then was required of all candidates for the ministry in 
Scotland, he applied during five sessions to theology. 

In the records of the university we have found the 
following entry : " Ebenezer Areskine laureated 25 
June 1697." He seems therefore to have commenced 
his academical career in November 1693, in the 14th 
year of his age. The following statement, indeed, is 
made, regarding him, in a late publication : " From the 
records of the Town Council of Edinburgh, it appears 
that in 1698, he was a bursar at the university of Edin- 
burgh, and presented by Pringle of Torwoodlee." f 
Yet since, according to the college records, he received 
the degree of Master of Arts in June 1697, the part of 
the Town Council's Books here referred to, probably re- 
lates to a bursary presented to him, as a student of the- 
ology. Possibly he was also a bursar while he at- 
tended the literary and philosophical classes. 

The University of Edinburgh had, even at that pe- 
riod, attained very considerable celebrity. Dr. Gilbert 
Rule, a man of excellent moral and religious character, 
and of respectable talents and learning, was Principal. 
The Regents were Messrs. Herbert Kennedy and John 

* Abbrev. of the Life of Mr. H. Erskine. 

•f Bower's Hist. Univ. Edinb. vol. ii. p. 284, note. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



65 



Row; Mr. Lawrence Dundas, who for many years 
taught Latin with great reputation ; and Mr. William 
Law of Etvingston, who was made Professor of Pneu- 
matics and Moral Philosophy. The mathematics were 
taught by Mr. James Gregory, the esteemed successor 
of his brother, Mr. David Gregory, who was the first 
European Professor that illustrated the philosophy of 
Newton in any public seminary, and became Professor 
of Astronomy at Oxford, 1691. From 1694 to 1702, 
Mr. Alexander Rule, son of the Principal, was Pro- 
fessor of Hebrew ; and young men were enjoined to 
study that language before commencing divinity. The 
theological Chair was ably filled by Dr. George Camp- 
bell, who succeeded Dr. Strachan 1690, and died 1701. 
Eminent piety, learning, and modesty, were united in 
the character of this Dr. Campbell ; and, in the libra- 
ry attached to the Divinity Hall, of which he was 
i the founder, and which at his death consisted of 996 
volumes, he left a noble proof of his benevolence and 
public spirit. * 

Placed under the tuition of these learned Professors, 
Ebenezer seems to have pursued his studies, with un- 
wearied assiduity, and distinguished success. It may 
be deemed no slight evidence of his proficiency, and of 
| the estimation in which he was held by his teachers, 
that he was recommended to John, Earl of Rothes, to 
be chaplain and tutor in his Lordship's family. The 
Earl was one of the most respectable noblemen of his 
a & e « By his religious and virtuous conduct, and by 
his ardent attachment to the liberties of the people, he 

* See Bower's Hist. Un. Edin. vol. i. pp. 318-385. For some 
account of Dr. Campbell, see also the Christian Instructor, 
vol. xxv. pp. 377-8. 



66 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



acquired great esteem. He was grandson of the Duke 
of Rothes, who made a figure in the reign of Charles II. 
He took his seat in Parliament in the year 1700, and, 
after the Union, was repeatedly chosen one of the six- 
teen representatives of the Scotish Peerage in the Bri- 
tish Parliament. After the accession of the House of 
Hanover, he was appointed Vice- Admiral of Scotland, 
and Governor of Stirling Castle. When the rebellion 
1715 broke out, he signalized himself by his zeal and 
gallantry in opposing the rebels. Each of the first se- 
ven years succeeding the accession of George I. he was 
chosen to represent his Majesty as High Commissioner to 
the Church of Scotland. During the sitting of the last 
General Assembly at which he held this honour, he be- 
came indisposed ; and he died on the 9th May 1722, in 
the forty-sixth year of his age, sincerely regretted by 
his friends and his country. * For several months be- 
fore his death, he suffered severe attacks of trouble ; 
and his conduct, in the prospect of that event, was 
truly exemplary. He expressed an entire acquiescence 
in the gospel method of salvation ; discovered a lively 
faith and great resignation ; and humbly entreated mi- 
nisters and friends, who approached his death-bed, to 
deal plainly with him, and tell him candidly if they 
thought his faith was sincere, or if it was only pre- 
sumption. He repeatedly called his family together, 
prayed fervently with them, and exhorted them to 
mind religion as the one thing needful. He was often 
observed, like dying Stephen, fixing his eyes intent on 
heaven, offering up his earnest supplications to God, 

* See Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, vol. ii. and Struthers's 
Hist. Scot. vol. i. pp. 220-510. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



67 



and he expired in the very act of prayer, when his 
" thoughts began to warm." In a word," says Col. 
Blackader, who was a delighted eye-witness of the in- 
teresting scene, " I never saw any man die more as a 
Christian hero, with so much natural fortitude, and 
such lively faith. He was pleasant in his life, and plea- 
sant in his death. O keep the impression strong upon 
my heart for ever, of what I have seen and heard 
here." * 

We have not ascertained the precise time when Mr. 
Erskine became chaplain to the family of Rothes. One 
of his manuscripts, however, contains notes of a sermon 
preached at Leslie, by the Rev. John Shaw, minister of 
that parish, October 19. 1701. He seems, therefore, 
to have entered the family some time before that date ; 
and from the terms in which he is mentioned in the mi- 
nutes of Kirkaldy Presbytery, it is clear that he re- 
mained in it, at least till he received licence in Febru- 
ary 1703. That he acquitted himself in a manner that 
met the entire approbation of the Earl, appears from the 
friendship he continued ever after to show him. Among 
other marks of his kind attention, we find that in 1712, 
when, from conscientious motives, he had exposed him- 
self to the penalties denounced against those clergymen 
that declined taking the oath of abjuration, his Lord- 
ship felt a lively interest in his safety and comfort. We 
have discovered a short-hand draught of a letter to this 
nobleman, bearing date " Portmoak, November 6, 
1712," in which the writer gratefully acknowledges the 

* Crichton's Life and Diary of Col. Blackader, pp. 523-526. 
See also a copy of a long letter respecting the Earl from the Co- 
lonel to Mr. Wodrow, Ch. Instr. vol. xxiv. pp. 766-8. 



68 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



friendly services he had done him. What follows is an 
extract, and nearly the whole, of this letter : 
" My Lord, 

6 6 I intended, according to promise, to 
have paid my respects this day to your Lordship. But 
having returned from my journey only y ester -night , and 
being fatigued with travelling, I beg your dispensation 
as to this. I return your Lordship my thankful ac- 
knowledgments for supplying my charge by Mr. Clow 
on Sabbath last, and for the singular care your Lord- 
ship has on all occasions, and particularly at this junc- 
ture, exercised towards me, and my small family. All 
the return I am capable to make, is to pray for Heaven's 
blessing upon your Lordship, and your family. The 
occasion of my returning so soon to this place is, that I 
find, by conversing with people of intelligence, to whom 
I represented my unfortunate case, that I am not in 
any hazard by preaching. . . , I find that all the 
non-jurants, especially through this part of the king- 
dom, are preaching ; and though I should desist for two 
or three Sabbaths, (which yet I have not full freedom to 
do,) it could avail nothing, unless I laid aside preaching 
for two or three months at least, till the Parliament de- 
clare their mind regarding the non-jurors, which can- 
not be suddenly expected. Upon all which considera- 
tions, I entreat your Lordship will not be offended, if I 
take my hazard in preaching on, with the rest of my 
brethren, who are in the same unfortunate circum- 
stances. If your Lordship will please to express your 
mind in this matter by a line from Mr. Clow, it will be 
a favour. And I must freely own that had I not 
dreaded your Lordship's displeasure more than the le- 
gal penalty, I had run the risk of the latter, Sabbath 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



69 



last. So that I beg earnestly your Lordship may 
make me easy as to this matter, and allow me to re- 
main, in all duty, my Lord, your Lordship's most hum- 
ble and obliged servant, 

" Ebenezer Erskine."* 
The Earl of Rothes was blessed with a numerous fa- 
mily ; but, as his marriage took place only in April 
1697, Mr. Erskine could not have more than two or 
three of his children to teach, including the eldest son 
John, who succeeded his father in 1722, and survived 
till December 1767. His chief employment in the 
Earl's house was no doubt to conduct the domestic 
worship, and to give religious and moral instruction to 
the servants. His duties as a tutor and chaplain did 
not induce him, at any rate, to neglect the studies ne- 
cessary to prepare him for that higher and more re- 
sponsible office to which he aspired. 

Considerable memorials of his youthful diligence are 
furnished by several manuscripts, still extant, contain- 
ing not only copious extracts from a variety of works 
in theology and church history, but also numerous 
notes of discourses he had heard in different places, par- 
ticularly at Edinburgh and Leslie.f In those times the 
practice of taking notes of sermons at church prevailed 
very much among religious people, and especially among 
students ; and it seems to have been countenanced by 
ministers and teachers of youth. The regulations of 
the University of Edinburgh had probably their own 
influence, in supporting this custom. The students 

* This letter is copied from a short-hand note-book begun 
1712, and entitled " Book 13th of Miscellany Sermons." Some 
of the expressions omitted are scarcely legible. 

+ See Append. No. V. 



70 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



were carefully guarded, and kept under a species of 
monastic discipline. During the period of attendance 
on the classes, they formed a strictly organized body, 
residing within the walls of the college. On Sabbath 
they attended divine service together, under the eye of 
the Professors ; and sometime after public worship was 
concluded, they met in several classes, to repeat notes 
of what they had heard, with passages of sacred writ 
they were expected to learn.* This mode of culture, 
though afterwards discontinued as rigid and illiberal, 
and as too closely resembling the method adopted in 
popish seminaries, was unquestionably calculated to 
create habits of attention to sermons, and to promote an 
intimate acquaintance with at least the letter of scrip- 
ture. To students in theology, it must have proved, 
in some respects, highly beneficial. Owing in a great 
degree, probably, to early habit, the subject of these 
memoirs was, through life, a very attentive hearer of 
the word. Though capable himself of composing ex- 
cellent discourses, he listened most devoutly to the in- 
structions delivered by his brethren ; and even many 
years after his ordination, he sometimes committed his 
recollections of them to writing. " The hand of the di- 
ligent maketh rich ;" and in whatever abundance the 
treasures of knowledge have been acquired, it is the 
part of a truly wise and humble man to improve every 
fresh opportunity of augmenting his store. 

The usual course of study being accomplished, the 
Presbytery of Kirkaldy, within whose bounds Ebenezer 
Erskine resided, encouraged him to go forward. A 



* Bower's Hist. Univ. Edin. vol. ii. p. 36, &c. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



71 



minute bearing date, Kirkaldy, September 24, 1702, 
contains the following sentence : " The Presbytery ap- 
point Mr. Shaw to speak to the Earl of Rothes anent 
his lordship's chaplain entering upon trials." Exercises 
for trial, for license to preach the Gospel, were soon after 
prescribed to him. He was appointed to prepare a 
homily on Isaiah xlv. 22 ; a popular sermon on Psalm 
cxix. 80 ; a critical exercise and addition on Rom. ix. 
17, 18 ; and a Latin discourse "on the object of justify- 
ing faith ;"* to give account of the 43d Psalm in He- 
brew, and the Greek ad aperturam libri ; and to an- 
swer catechetical questions. He and another young 
man, named Mr. Henry Hamilton, were taken on trials 
at the same time, appeared together before the Pres- 
bytery at their successive meetings, Oct. 22, Nov. 19, 
and Dec. 17, 1702 ; and Jan. 14, 1703 ; and both re- 
ceived license at Kirkcaldy, Feb. 11, 1703. A certifi- 
cate of Mr. Erskine's license, neatly written on parch- 
ment by the Rev. Thomas Russell, Presbytery Clerk, 
and Minister of the parish of Kennoway, is still in the 
possession of one of his descendants. It is as follows : 

" At Kirkcaldie, the Eleventh day of Februar 1703. 

"The Presbytrie of Kirkcaldie, considering 
that Master Ebenezer Areskin has, at several 
times, passed through before them all the ordinar parts 
of tryall as a Probationer, with all which they were well 
satisfied. And having this day in their presence pub- 
licly owned and acknowledged the Confession of Faith 
as the confession of his faith, and promised to subscribe 
the same when required ; owned and acknowledged the 
present Presbyterian Church government by Kirk Ses- 
sions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies, to 

* De objecto fidei justificantis. 



72 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



be the only government agreeable to the word of God ; 
promising to adhere thereto, and to do nothing directly 
or indirectly in prejudice thereof ; and that he should 
endeavour to maintain and promote the same to the ut- 
most of his power ; and that he should follow no divisive 
course, and be subject to this and other Presbyteries, 
where Providence should cast his lot. — They did and 
hereby do Licentiate the said Master Ebenezer 
Areskin to preach the Gospel of Christ, as a Proba- 
tioner. 

Extracted forth of the Records of the said Pres- 
bytrie by 

T. Russell, Clk. Presb. 

These young men immediately received appointments 
from the Presbytery to preach in vacant parishes, un- 
der their inspection. Mr. Erskine's first appointment 
was at Dysart, the second Sabbath after he was licensed, 
being Feb. 23d. Here then, so far as we know, this ce- 
lebrated preacher first opened his mouth, as an authoris- 
ed herald of the cross, to publish those glad tidings of 
salvation, which for a long series of years, by the divine 
aid, he continued to proclaim, with increasing ability, 
reputation, and success. Judging from the minutes of 
Presbytery, Dysart, Kirkaldy, and Portmoak, were the 
only places where he was appointed to preach, previ- 
ously to his ordination, with the exception of a Sab- 
bath at Markinch, — " Mr. Drew being to attend the 
Commission of the Assembly." 

His first appearances at Portmoak took place on the 
last Sabbath of March, the third of April, and the first 
of May, 1703. That parish having become vacant by 
the translation of the Rev. John Wilson, who was ad- 
mitted at Kirkaldy the 22d of October preceding, the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



73 



people were solicitous to obtain another pastor ; and 
being highly pleased with the ministrations and charac- 
ter of Mr. Erskine, he received an unanimous call to 
discharge the office of the ministry among them, from 
the heritors and elders, with the cheerful acquiescence 
of the whole population. The Rev. Mr. Wardrope of 
Ballingry moderated at Portmoak on Wednesday the 
26th May. At that period, a call was no vain or un- 
meaning ceremony. The Presbytery, indeed, autho- 
rized the moderator and another minister respectfully 
to inform Sir William Bruce of the appointment of the 
moderation ; but neither Sir William, nor any other indi- 
vidual, presumed to exercise the right of patronage. At 
a meeting of Presbytery subsequently held at Dysart 
on the 10th June, the moderator gave in his report. 
The laird of Gospetrie, William Arnot, John Whyte, and 
Andrew Arnot, having appeared as commissioners from 
the parish, they presented the call duly attested. The 
Presbytery sustained the call as "legally proceeded in ;" 
and the moderator having offered it to Mr. Erskine, he 
took it in his hand, but requested that the Presbytery 
might not consider him as expressing a positive compli- 
ance with the call, and then laid it on the table. The 
Presbytery discovered great eagerness to expedite the 
settlement, prescribed the usual exercises for trial to 
Mr. Erskine, and recommended it to him, meantime, to 
preach at Portmoak as frequently as he could. Hav- 
ing acquitted himself creditably in all his exercises, the 
Presbytery, at a meeting at Kirkaldy on September 
3d, appointed his ordination to take place on the 22d 
of that month, It seems worth while here to pre- 
sent the reader with the following extract of the mi- 
nute of Presbytery, recording this solemn transaction. 



74 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



While it serves to show the then customary form of 
procedure, it contains a complete list of his original 
co-presbyters, and specifies a certain condition on which 
he accepted the charge of Portmoak. 

" At Portmoak Manse, Sept. 22, 1703. 
" Hor. 10 ma. After prayer, sederunt Mess. An- 
drew Wardroper Moderator, John Shaw, John Affleck, 
Thomas Russell, James Grierson, John Cleghorn, 
Joseph Drew, John Wilson. Absents, Mess. Robert 
and Andrew Elliots, and Patrick Melvill. This day 
the edict of Mr. Ebenezer Areskin, conform to the 
Presbytery's former appointment was returned, duly 
indorsed, by Mr. John Affleck, minister at Auchter- 
derran, as an execution under his hand produced and 
read, bears. And the same being called three several 
times at the most patent door of the kirk of Portmoak 
this day, (the parishioners being convened at the time 
to hear sermon,) that if any person or persons had any 
thing to object against the life or doctrine of Mr. 
Ebenezer Areskin, why he may not be ordained and 
admitted minister of Portmoak, conform to the call 
given him by the heritors and elders of that parish, 
that they compear before this Presbytery met at the 
manse of Portmoak presently. None compeared to 
object, which the Presbytery considering, do resolve to 
proceed to the ordination and admission of the said 
Mr. Areskin, minister at Portmoak, immediately after 
sermon. 

" Mr. Ebenezer Areskin represented to the Presby- 
tery that he foresaw great difficulties in managing the 
work of the ministry in the parish of Portmoak, and 
therefore earnestly entreated, that if he found himself 
unable to bear up under them, they would grant unto 



THE REV. EBENEZEK ERSKINE. 



75 



him an act of transportability ; otherwise, he durst not, 
notwithstanding of the progress made towards his settle- 
ment, adventure upon it. Which representation being 
considered by the Presbytery, they did unanimously 
enact, that, if Mr. Areskin should meet with insuperable 
grievances, which after due pains taken by them, can- 
not be redressed, they would allow him an act of tran- 
sportability. Mr. Ebenezer Areskin did subscribe the 
Confession of Faith, as the confession of his faith, in 
the face of the Presbytery.' ' 

" Eodem die, Hora Stia pom. After prayer, sede- 
runt, .... After public prayer and preaching 
by Mr. Andrew Wardroper, minister of Ballingry, and 
Moderator of the Presbytery, who preached on that 
text, i. Cor. iii. 9, 10, 6 For we are labourers together 
with God ; ye are God's husbandry ; ye are God's 
building.' The said Mr. Areskin was ordained by the 
laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, and admitted 
minister of Portmoak, according to the word of God 
and the established order of this kirk, none excepting 
against the same. Whereupon the Moderator and 
remanent members of the Presbytery gave him the 
right hand of fellowship, and did receive him as their 
co-presbyter ; and the heritors and elders, and masters 
of families took him by the hand, in token of their one- 
ness with him, and submitting to him as their lawful 
pastor." 

Such were the circumstances attending Mr. Erskine's. 
entrance on the first scene of his pastoral labours, 
which, notwithstanding its comparative obscurity and 
contracted limits, proved neither uninteresting nor un- 
productive. 

The parish of Portmoak, though connected with the 



76 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Presbytery of Kirkaldy, Fifeshire, belongs to the 
county of Kinross. It is seven miles long, and about 
five miles broad. Its principal villages are Portmoak, 
Kinness-wood, Scotland-well, and Easter Balgedie. In 
the year 1755, the number of souls, according to Dr. 
Webster's return, was 996 ; and in all probability, the 
population was nearly the same at the commencement 
of the eighteenth century. The villages are romanti- 
cally situated, having the lofty mountains of Lomond 
on the one side ; and, on the other, the spacious and 
beautiful lake of Loch Leven, interspersed with a 
number of isles, including that in which Mary, Queen 
of Scots, was confined about eleven months in the 
years 1567-8. Various circumstances connected with 
this parish have engaged the attention of antiquarians ; 
as its name Portmoak, derived from St. Moak, in ho- 
nour of whom a Priory was erected on the banks of 
the lake ; the isle of St. Serf or Servanus, containing 
an ancient Priory, dedicated to that saint; the Mo- 
nastery of Portmoak, which stood on the east bank of 
the loch, was founded by Rogasch, king of the Picts, 
and belonged to the Culdees; and the Hospital of 
Scotland- well, situated at the bottom of south Lomond, 
or Bishop's-hill, founded by Malvoisine, a Bishop of 
St. Andrews, and given to the Red Friars in 1250. 
The ruins of the castle where Queen Mary was impri- 
soned, are beautifully described by the celebrated 
Michael Bruce, a native of Kinness-wood, in his poem 
on Loch Leven. Amongst the men of learning to 
whom this parish has given birth in ancient times, par- 
ticular notice is generally taken of Andrew Winton, 
Prior of Loch Leven, in the reign of James I., who 
wrote in Scotish metre what is called the Loch Leven 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



77 



Chronicle ; or a History of the world from its creation 
to the captivity of James I. ; and John Douglas, of the 
family of Pittendriech, who became Rector of the Uni- 
versity of St. Andrews, was appointed Archbishop in 
1571, and was the first Protestant who possessed that 
see.* 

For many years after the Reformation, part of the 
Priory of Portmoak was occupied as the place of wor- 
ship. But in the year 1659, a new church was erect- 
ed at the distance of a mile from the village, where 
it still remains. It appears to be about seventy feet 
long, and only twenty wide. Notwithstanding some 
improvements it has undergone, its present appearance 
(1830) is . probably very little different from what it 
was a hundred years since. The old and deep pulpit 
of oak, carved according to the Dutch fashion; the 
rusty iron case for holding the baptismal basin ; and a 
sun-dial, near the south-west door, leading to the pul- 
pit—have all an aspect exceedingly antique. A few 
ancient seats along the back-wall, contribute, with 
other circumstances, to confirm the tradition, that this 
church was entirely composed of materials transported 
from the old priory. The stone, opposite to the pul- 
pit, however, on which Mr. Erskine is said, for some 
years at first, to have constantly fixed his eye when de- 
livering his discourses, seems to have been removed.f 

* Most of the above particulars respecting this parish are 
taken from an ample account of it by Dr. Andrew Grant, for- 
merly minister of Portmoak. Statist. Acc. of Scotland, vol. v. 
No. 9, pp. 156-174. 

f It is now proposed, we understand, to build a new church a t 
Portmoak. 



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LIFE AND DIARY OF 



His manse was demolished and replaced by another 
about the year 1741. 

What the difficulties were that he anticipated, and 
which induced him to solicit the promise of " an act of 
transportability" we do not exactly know. From sub- 
sequent minutes of Presbytery it appears, that both 
his church and dwelling-house stood in great need of 
repairs, and that some of the heritors were, for a time, 
rather unwilling to incur the necessary expense. Pos- 
sibly, however, he was chiefly apprehensive of opposi- 
tion and trouble from a few individuals, who were ei- 
ther hostile to the Presbyterian interest, or incorrect in 
their morals. But whatever may have been the nature 
and extent of the grievances originally dreaded, we 
shall afterwards find that, by the blessing of God, his 
ministry was uncommonly successful, and that he and 
his parishioners were united by the most endearing 
bonds. 

Within somewhat less than six months after Mr, 
Erskine's settlement at Portmoak, another event oc- 
curred, which had a most salutary influence on his 
subsequent history — his marriage with Alison Tur- 
pie, daughter to Mr. Alexander Turpie, writer in 
Leven, Fifeshire, and Mrs. Jean Friar, daughter of 
Mr. William Friar, merchant in Edinburgh. The con- 
tract, which is still extant, was entered into, in the pre- 
sence of his brother Ralph and a Mr. Robertson of 
Leslie. The marriage was celebrated at Edinburgh, 
in the house of Mr. Balderston, on the 2d February 
1704. The singular worth of Alison Turpie, and the 
felicitous consequences of this union, will appear in the 
sequel. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



79 



CHAPTER H. 

Mr. Er shine's religion defective at the commencement of his mi- 
nistry — Happy change in his views and feelings — Time and 
means of this change — Extended view of his character and expe- 
rience, supplied by his Diary — Deep solicitude respecting eter- 
nity — Humility and penitence — Sentiments regarding the Savi- 
our's person and work — Confiding faith in Christ — Admiration 
and love — Self -dedication — Conscientious fidelity in principle 
and practice — Spirituality of mind. 

Whilst a competent share of literature and science is 
justly regarded as an important qualification for the sa- 
cred office, personal religion is at least equally essen- 
tial ; and the public usefulness of a minister, when other 
circumstances are alike, will usually be proportioned 
to his own attainments in fervent and enlightened piety. 
It seems proper, therefore, before describing the man- 
ner in which Mr. Erskine discharged his ministry at 
Portmoak, to give some account of his religious cha- 
racter and experience. For this part of our design, we 
are furnished with ample and very interesting materials, 
by his own Diary. 

He had always been considered, it appears, as an ex- 
cellent young man. A dutiful son, a diligent and a 
successful scholar, a faithful tutor, a blameless profes- 
sor of Christianity, and now an acceptable preacher 
and an esteemed pastor, — he was thought to have ex- 
emplified, to a great extent, whatever is laudable and 
good* Yet, if we admit the correctness of his own re- 



80 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



presentation of himself, his character was radically de- 
fective ; and it was not till about three years after his 
ordination, that he understood the pure Gospel of 
Christ, or was at all savingly acquainted with its influ- 
ence. He must be numbered, in short, amongst those 
clergymen, who, though once they preached a Saviour 
whom they did not know, have at last, through distin- 
guishing mercy, experienced the power of illuminating 
and converting grace. This fact in his history will pro- 
bably be new, to some who give these pages a perusal. 
The writer himself was never completely aware of it, 
till he had the satisfaction of reading his Diary. After 
mature consideration, he feels it to be right to unfold, 
in Mr. Erskine's own words, the nature of that import- 
ant revolution which took place in his views and feel- 
ings. 

The Diary, it is true, was obviously written, solely for 
himself, as a record of his exercises, and of the divine 
procedure towards him ; the perusal of which, might af- 
terwards be useful, for his admonition and encourage- 
ment in the Christian life. Nor had his relatives or 
friends entertained the least intention of giving any part 
of it to the world ; as is clear from the fact, that, for 
about the space of seventy years, they have permitted 
it to sleep amongst his unpublished and short-hand ma- 
nuscripts ; and have latterly, if not from the first, ne- 
glected it, as a sealed book. The publication of some 
extracts from it, however, can reflect no discredit on 
his memory. These precious remains, on the contrary, 
now happily rescued from the gulf of oblivion, will 
serve to place his sterling character, as a Christian, in 
the most amiable and attractive light ; while they seem 
calculated, by the divine blessing, to promote, most es- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



81 



sentially, at once the credit and the spirit of vital reli- 
gion. The ingenuous statements of the Diary will,- at 
any rate, disclose the secret but powerful cause of that 
holy and fervid eloquence which he displayed in the pul- 
pit, and the hidden springs of that uncommon zeal and 
activity with which he publicly defended the interests of 
truth and righteousness against those by whom they were 
opposed. Fidelity, and justice to the venerable author, 
render it necessary, in general, to produce the extracts 
exactly as they occur in the original.* No candid rea- 
der will indulge that fastidiousness of temper, which 
would make him too readily nauseate a trivial slip in 
grammar, a homely expression, or a provincial term. 

The great change of sentiment and feeling to which 
we have alluded, happened in the year 1707 or 1708. 
The principal means of producing it, was the pious con- 
versation of Mrs. Erskine, in connexion with a happy 

* The reader is entitled to know precisely, to what extent any 
liberties have been taken with the manuscript, in the course of 

this publication Texts of Scripture are here quoted correctly in 

some passages, where, from inadvertency, slight inaccuracies in 
quotation occur in the original. In several sentences, for the sake 
of perspicuity, a few words are transposed, without the least fur- 
ther variation. A few redundant terms and phrases are occasion- 
ally omitted ; the chief instance of which, is in the expressive in- 
terjection O I or Oh ! which occurs much more frequently at the 
beginning of sentences in the original, than in the copy. For 
the sake of English readers, I have sometimes ventured to sub- 
stitute an English word in place of a Scotish ; as know for ken, 
attempt for mint, flood for spate. In a very few instances, 
in fine, two or three words are supplied by conjecture, where the 
manuscript was quite illegible. With these exceptions, there is 
no attempt at improving the diction. Far less have we dared to 
alter or modify the sense. 



82 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



deliverance she obtained from a state of mental distress, 
into which she had fallen. The same wise and gracious 
Redeemer, who, at the commencement of the Christian 
economy, employed Aquila and Priscilla to " expound 
the way of God more perfectly" to the eloquent Apol- 
los, made use of the humble and friendly efforts of Ali- 
son Turpie, for leading her gifted husband to a clearer 
and more impressive discernment of evangelical truth. 
This circumstance has been long, in some degree, 
known to those who take an interest in his history. A 
confidential conversation, it has been stated, which he ac- 
cidentally overheard, betwixt his brother Ralph and her, 
on the subject of their religious experience, is believed 
to have signally contributed towards the salutary change 
that took place in his views of the Gospel. While they 
were imparting their sentiments to each other, with- 
out reserve, in a bower in his garden, immediately be- 
neath the window of his study, which then happened to 
be open, he eagerly listened to their interesting com- 
munications. Their ideas and feelings appeared so dif- 
ferent from his own, that he instantly felt himself ob- 
liged to conclude, that they possessed a valuable some- 
thing, to which he was a stranger ; and the impression 
seems to have remained till, with respect to vital Christi- 
anity, he became, not merely almost, but altogether such 
as they were.* 

In full accordance with this statement, the Diary 
contains explicit and repeated acknowledgments of his 
obligations to Mrs. Erskine, as the honoured instru- 
ment, by which it pleased God to bring him to a real 

* See the Memoir of Mr. Eben. Erskine, in Gospel- Truth, by 
the Rev. J ohn Brown, Whitburn. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



83 



acquaintance with the power and comfort of religion. 
This is particularly narrated in his account of her char- 
acter and experience, written after her death.* It is 
more briefly noticed in a letter which he wrote to his 
sister, Mrs. Balderston, immediately after his bereave- 
ment. Among the various considerations which he re- 
garded as causes of gratitude in the midst of his sorrow, 
he specifies the great advantage he had received from 
her, with respect to his spiritual concerns. When im- 
ploring the divine direction, in fine, with regard to the 
course he should adopt in his widowhood, he solemnly 
renders thanks to God for what He had done for his 
soul, by the instrumentality of his first beloved partner, 

" O Lord, my God in Christ, it has pleased thee, in 
thy holy and adorable providence, to bring me into a 
state of widowhood, by taking away the very desire of 
mine eyes. I bless thee with my soul, for the desirable 
loan that thou gavest me of my dear wife. When thou 
gavest her to me, thou gavest me a help-meet for me 
indeed ; and that when I little minded to seek thy coun- 
sel about the choice. But the Lord chose well for me, 
and led me in the way I knew not, and made her a 
happy instrument, not only of building my family, and 
planting it with young olives, but also of much good 
and edification to my soul, she being the particular mean 
and instrument of my being brought to an acquaintance 
with religion." 

In various passages of the Diary, the 26th of August, 
1708, is referred to, as a day on which he was favoured 
with a memorable manifestation of the glory of a recon- 
ciled God. Thus, in October that year, after lament- 

* See this account, and the letter to Mrs. Balderston, Chap. vi. 



84 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ing the deadness and indifference of his spirit, and pre- 
senting his prayer for reviving grace, he adopts the lan- 
guage of grateful recollection : 

" My soul once a-day said unto the Lord, He is my 
Lord. I think I am sure of it, as sure of it as ever I 
was of any thing, that he brought my heart to give a 
consent to him, on the 26th of August last ; and I am 
as sure that he will never deny his own covenant. < The 
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but 
his kindness shall not depart, neither shall the covenant 
of his peace be removed.' O that my Lord and my 
God would fulfil his covenant in me, in subduing the 
strong corruption of my heart. O my God, wilt thou 
not do it for thy name's sake. I beg it of thee, do it. 
Oh that I were beyond the reach of sin in the happy 
land, the inhabitant whereof doth not say, I am sick, 
because the people that dwell therein are forgiven their 
iniquity." 

The same divine manifestation is pleasantly alluded 
to in the two following entries : 

ei Jan. 27, 1711. — I was made, with some delight and 
satisfaction of soul, to call to remembrance the expres- 
sions I had of the Lord's love, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 
1708, when my soul was made to leap within me, with 
the sweet views which I got of Christ, and of his co- 
venant, and of nearness to God, and interest in him as 
my God." 

" Feb. 7, 1715. — This morning I wakened out of 
sleep between 5 and 6, and as I wakened, I found my- 
self with God. The Lord was drawing aside the vail, 
and giving my soul some awful but sweet discoveries 
of himself. I saw him to be great and good, and an 
every way up-making portion to the soul ; upon which 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



85 



my soul said, O he is my God, I will prepare him an 
habitation, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 
Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none 
upon earth that I desire besides thee. He is the 
God and Father of my elder brother and my blessed 
husband, Jesus Christ ; to whom he made me to give 
my consent upon Wednesday, August 26, 1708." 

He does not expressly affirm, we may remark, that 
the 28th August 1708 was the day of his conversion. 
From the record of his experiences, which was begun 
November 22, 1707, it is manifest, that prior to that 
date, he was at least conscious of apprehensions and 
desires, sorrows and joys, which to him were altoge- 
ther new. His mind was illuminated and impressed in 
a gradual manner ; and possibly he did not venture to 
point out the very day on which he passed from a state 
of nature to a state of grace. 

The confessions he frequently makes of the security, 
the practical atheism, and the sad indifference to the 
Gospel and the Saviour, which had formerly reigned 
in his heart, mingled with expressions of lively grati- 
tude to God for his enlightening and regenerating 
grace, are most ingenuous and affecting. Let the fol- 
lowing examples, quoted in the order in which they 
occur in the manuscript, suffice. 

" Portmoak, Sabbath, Nov. 28, 1708, between 5 and 
6 at night. I had been looking for a text against Wed- 
nesday next : but my thoughts, I knew not how, were 
diverted another way, to think of the Lord's goodness 
in sparing me to this day, and more especially of his 
goodness in recovering me out of that dangerous fever 
I had at Leslie, a little after my ordination. I remem- 
bered that, at that time, I was as stupid and uncon- 



86 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cerned about my soul and the great concerns of it, as 
though I had not had a soul within me. I remember, 
indeed, that my wife, my servant, and my sister-in-law, 
were weeping and mourning about me, because they 
thought I was gone. When I saw them weeping, I 
burst out in tears — that I behoved to leave my poor 
melancholy wife, and weeping friends, and that I was 
to bid an eternal adieu to the world, and to all the 
comforts and enjoyments thereof, and to go into end- 
less eternity. But, alas ! alas ! I had not the least con- 
cern about my poor soul. I was like a very beast before 
God ; and I make not the least question but I had pe- 
rished eternally, if God had, at that time, cut the thread 
of my life. I thought the Lord's goodness in recover- 
ing me did, at this time, affect my heart. I thought I 
had never rendered him due praise for my recovery : 
upon which I fell down upon my knees before the Lord, 
and blessed him, that he had recovered me, and did not 
take me away at that time — that he had reserved me 
for better things. Glory unto my God, that hath since 
that time, made me to know something of his goodness 
to my soul, and kindled, I think, a smoking flax in my 
heart, which sometimes burns with love to and desire 
after himself. On all this I was made to renew my 
covenant-engagement unto the Lord, and I did it in 
such terms as these : O Lord there is nothing that can 
do for me but thyself alone — a God or nothing. The 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost must be my God ; and 
blessed be thy name thou hast said that thou wilt be my 
God, and that I shall be thy servant ; and then my 
heart said within me, Content, Lord, I will be thine, if 
thou wilt make me so ; I take thy word upon it, for thy 
word is the best security I can have. I was made to 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



87 



stand astonished at the condescension of the Lord in 
taking the like of me into covenant with himself. Up- 
on this I asked of the Lord, that he would fulfil his 
covenant in me ; that he would subdue my corrup- 
tion, subdue atheism, subdue unbelief, subdue pride ; 
that he would sanctify me by his spirit, justify me by 
the blood of my dearest Lord, and work all my works 
in me and for me. I thought I was sure the Lord 
would do these things for me, because he had promised ; 
and I have them, because I have his promise for them, 
God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice." 

" P. Friday r , Aug. 5, 1709. This morning, between 
8 and 9 o'clock, I read the 4th chapter of the Acts, 
and the Lord was pleased, in this passage of scripture, 
to discover something of Christ unto my soul. And 
when I had done reading, I fell down upon my knees 
to pray ; and O it was sweet, sweet, because I found 
and saw the Lord in the duty. He gave me something 
of his presence, as an earnest of the inheritance. He 
did discover something of the fulness of Christ, and 
the wonders of redeeming love and mercy in him, so 
that I could not but say, Hallelujah, salvation, glory, 
honour, and power, to the Lord my God, that sitteth 
upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. 
Glory to Him that remembered me in my low es- 
tate. When I was turning a mere atheist, when I was 
swallowed up in unbelief, rebellion and enmity against 
God, then it was that he did break in upon my heart. 
When I was sinking into the horrible pit, he lifted me 
up, and made a day of grace to dawn upon my soul. 
O glory, glory, glory, glory unto the Lord my God for 
the riches and freedom of his love and mercy. Glory 
to the Lord that I see my life is now hid with Christ in 



88 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



God ; because Christ lives, I shall live also. How 
sweet is his name to my soul : It is sweeter than oint- 
ment poured forth. When shall I be with him, so as 
never to part with him again." 

"P. Sept. 7 th, near 10 at night, 1713. This day I 
have had some pleasant views of God. I was just now 
contemplating his glory shining in the stars of the firma- 
ment. I think there is much of his glory to be seen 
there. I cannot think of his greatness, as I should do. 
It swallows up all thoughts and expressions. But surely 
it will be a strange and wonderful thing, to be in the 
immediate enjoyment of this great and glorious God, 
who made the heaven and the earth, and the stars. O 
Lord, thou art exceeding great. I think it is a won- 
der that this God has taken on him the nature of man. 
It is w r onderful and amazing love that made him stoop 
and condescend so low. And I think he must be a 
worthy and wonderful Mediator, a w r orthy advocate in- 
deed. He cannot but prevail for the souls for whom 
he pleads, since all pow r er in heaven and in earth is in 
his hand. He is the Lord of life and glory. I think I 
am content to entrust him with my cause, and with all 
the eternal interests of my precious soul, though it were 
worth all the souls that ever had a being since the fall 
of Adam. Oh ! he is precious, precious ! I love him, I 
adore him, and desire it as my chief good to be like 
him, and to be with him, that I may behold his glory. 
I hope that when Christ, who is my life, shall appear, 
then I shall appear with him in glory. Lord, give me 
faith to believe that Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the Son 
of God, and the Saviour of sinners ; and make my heart 
to triumph and rejoice in him. O he is a wonderful 
Saviour ; and how wonderful is his grace that ever 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



89 



made me to admire him. I remember that once it was 
nauseous to me to hear of Christ. I looked upon the 
doctrine of Christ as stuff, and I wearied of nothing so 
much as to read the history of Christ in the Evange- 
lists. I thought it the most wearisome part of the 
Bible, to read the four Evangelists ; since they come 
over the same things. But now I love to read of Christ ; 
I love to hear of him ; and I think no part of the Bible 
so sweet as that part of it which once I most depreci- 
ated. It was there that I saw his glory first, and there 
I see it still. Glory to him that ever opened mine eyes ; 
for once I was as blind as a mole, I saw nothing of the 
glory of the Redeemer. But now I think him the 
greatest wonder that ever the world saw ; I can never 
see enough of him ; and when he is out of my sight, I 
think myself shut up in darkness. I desire to run my 
race, looking unto Jesus. A sight of him is that which 
refreshes my soul, and puts life, light, and gladness into 
my heart, and a 6 joy unspeakable and full of glory/ 
O I cannot think of parting with him. He is the life 
of my life, and the soul of my soul ; and my all is in 
him. He is like a bundle of myrrh to me ; and O I 

would lay him < betwixt my breasts' give him the 

best room in my heart. 6 His name is as ointment 
poured forth ;' which makes my very soul to love him, 
and close with him." 

" P. Thursday, Oct. 8, 1713. I find much of the 
Lord now and then discovered to my soul. Particu- 
larly, coming home this night, I saw the whole earth 
full of the wonders of the Lord ; and if the earth be so 
full of his glory, O what must there be in heaven ! My 
soul was made to go out to him, almost all the way 
eoming home [from Dunfermline ;] and I got sweet 



90 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



enlargement in private duty this night, after I came 
home. That which makes me remark all this is, that 
there is a promise made to the diligent observers of 
God's ways and methods, that they shall understand the 
loving-kindness of the Lord. Ps. cvii. 43. Glory be to 
his name, that has made me to know and believe that 
he is — so that I no more doubt of his being, than I 
doubt of my own ; and, through his grace, I am resolved 
never to doubt it, or to call it into question any more ; 
though my vile, wicked, and atheistical heart has many 
times done it formerly. And I think, blessed be his 
name, that he has convinced me that the blessed Bible 
is his word, because none can speak so but He. And 

I love and adore it, because it is his word. I value 
it more than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; and I re- 
joice in it, as one that has found great treasure. I 
would not give the Bible for ten thousand worlds, be- 
cause it is the word of God. O but it be a wonderful 
thing, to have the word of the eternal God ; God speak- 
ing to men, and declaring his will to us for our salva- 
tion. He has not dealt so with every nation. My soul 
gives glory to God for this blessed book, and that ever 

1 heard the joyful sound. Blessed be his name that 
has honoured me to be a minister of his Gospel, and 
to preach and proclaim the glad-tidings of salvation 
through Christ, his eternal Son, to miserable sinners. 
It is a great honour, an unspeakable dignity. O that 
I may be honoured to do good to many a soul." 

The extracts already introduced are sufficient to es- 
tablish the fact, that, in his own apprehension, Ebenezer 
Erskinewas, till more than two years after the commence- 
ment of his ministry, a stranger to the power and com- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



91 



fort of the gospel, and that at the time which has 
been specified, he became acquainted with " the true 
grace of God." It would be exceedingly wrong, how- 
ever, after having admitted our readers to the secret 
chambers of this man of God, to oblige them to with- 
draw, without first affording them an opportunity of 
leisurely fixing their eyes on him, and beholding those 
sacred transactions in which he unreservedly poured 
out his heart into the bosom of his heavenly Father, 
Instead of hastily dismissing, as unwelcome intrud- 
ers, the many Christians who venerate his memory, and 
have been edified by his writings, it seems reasonable 
to indulge them with a deliberate view of those retired 
exercises, which at the same time amply develop the 
real character of the good man contemplated, and ad- 
minister instruction, warning, and encouragement to 
the devout spectator. Not a few of the expressions to 
be quoted, may be justly expected to breathe all the 
ardour natural to a new convert, or a zealous proficient ; 
nor will it excite surprise, that on some occasions he 
may appear to attach a somewhat undue importance to 
that diversity of inward frames and feelings, of which 
he was conscious. Growing acquaintance with the di- 
vine life served to give him more accurate conceptions 
of various points connected with experimental religion ; 
and nothing did he ultimately inculcate with greater 
zeal than an immediate and constant dependence on the 
blessed Mediator, as exhibited in the testimony and 
promise of the gospel. * 

To render the following quotations the more memo- 

* See, for instance, his last advice to weak believers, at the 
close of his sermons on the Assurance of Faith. 



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LIFE AND DIARY OF 



rable and useful, we shall give them an arrangement 
suited to the several features of his character, which 
they seem respectively calculated, more particularly, to 
illustrate. 

His deep solicitude respecting his own eternal wel- 
fare is often expressed in striking terms. Let a single 
specimen suffice. — " I find a deep and rooted concern 
in my soul about my state ; having death and eternity 
in my view with such liveliness, and with such an awe 
and dread, as fills me with the utmost perplexity, and 
makes me cry with the jailor, ' What shall I do to be 
saved?' I see death and eternity unavoidable ; there 
is no escaping them. Something or other must be 
done, in order to my eternal well-being ; and in all the 
world I know not where to find rest for the sole of my 
foot, if I do not find it in Christ. And O I think there 
is so much excellency and worth, so much sweetness 
and safety in his person and purchase, that if I could 
but rely on him, I would have complete rest and sa- 
tisfaction. The way of salvation through the ever 
blessed Redeemer is a pleasant device and contrivance. 
I find in my soul an earnest thirst and insatiable long- 
ing after him — to be found in him, having his complete 
righteousness. O to have my soul grounded on this 
sweet foundation." 

Nothing is of more frequent occurrence in this jour- 
nal, than the language of humility and penitence. The 
abasing designations he takes to himself, and his bitter 
lamentations over the darkness and deadness of his 
own heart, and the temporary prevalence of in-dwell- 
ing sin, notwithstanding former resolutions, attainments 
and hopes, discover a lively sense of personal unwor- 
thiness and guilt. Often did he water his couch with 



THE REV. ERENEZER ERSKINE. 



93 



his tears, and lift up his supplications and cries out of 
great depths of perplexity and anguish. The truth is, 
that the man whose eyes have been opened to see the 
glory of God, the spirituality of the law, and the ex- 
tent of his own inherent depravity, is apt, in the sim* 
plicity of his heart, to utter mournful and self-abasing 
confessions, which excite the surprise, if not the con- 
tempt of those around him. " I have known many in- 
stances," says a writer of eminent ability and intelli- 
gence,* " in which the most genuine expressions of 
self-abasement, happening to fall from aged experi- 
enced Christians, have appeared to others as little better 
than affectation. They were not able to conceive the 
propriety of those sentiments, which long acquaintance 
with God and with ourselves, doth naturally and infal- 
libly inspire." The following extracts breathe, with- 
out doubt, the genuine spirit of deep humiliation and 
repentance. 

" Iniquities have prevailed against me ; and I have 
been, and still am, these two days, sadly in the dark. 
The Lord is hiding and frowning, and covering him- 
self with a cloud in his anger ; and I dare not say but 
he is just and righteous in so doing ; for I have given 
him cause to hide himself for ever, and plead an ever- 
lasting controversy with me. O I have been a fool, 
and as a beast before the Lord. I know not what to 
do. I am afraid that the Lord cast me off ; and I am 
sure, were it not that his covenant stands fast in 
Christ, I should have no ground of hope. The Lord 
pity me, and pardon me, and restore unto me the joy of 

* Dr. Witherspoon's Practical Treatise on Regeneration, ch. 
ii. sect. 4. 



94 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

his salvation. I see I shall turn an apostate, and be- 
come a scandal and a reproach to religion, if the Lord 
forsake me. The least temptation carries me off my 
feet, when left to myself. O to be kept by the power 
of God. Through grace I will not return again to 
folly, if the Lord would return to me. O bitter, bitter 
sin, that separates between me and my God." 

" This day," he says at another time, " I am dead 
and hard, and stupid, like a very stone. I see that I 
feel nothing ; but only I see that I am a sinner ; and 
scarcely do I see that. I am afraid that all is wrong 
with me, and the work as yet to begin ; for I am car- 
nal, sold under sin. I am slothful and careless; I 
cannot pray, I cannot work for my master. I am ne- 
gligent in duty ; I have not one good thought in my 
heart. Lord pity me. I am afraid to live in this ease, 
and yet I am afraid to die. I am untender in my 
walk ; I am unholy ; I am guilty of sins against know- 
ledge, and sins of ignorance. Lord take away the 
stony heart out of my flesh, and give me a heart of 
flesh." At subsequent periods he thus renews his 
complaint: " I have been as it were buried under 
mountains of corruption and guilt, sinking in the horri- 
ble pit, and the miry clay." " I do not think ever 
there was a poor soul, that had the least spark of sav- 
ing grace, in such a bad condition as I have been, for 
this long time past. A subtle devil, a deceitful heart, 
and an ensnaring world, have made a prey of me, and 
driven me before them, as a downright slave and cap- 
tive." 

This eminent Christian, in short, was prepared, like 
Paul, to consider himself as the chief of sinners, and the 
greatest debtor to sovereign grace. Accordingly, after 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



95 



bemoaning a season of desertion, and departure from 
the living God, he adds, " O that it were with me as 
in months past. If he do return and receive me gra- 
ciously, I am sure there will not be a greater monu- 
ment of free grace, either in heaven or earth, than I 
am. I think there is not one in heaven that will, or 
can, sing such high hallelujahs to the Lamb as I shall 
do, when I come to heaven, through him who is the 
way, the truth, and the life." 

Amid all this self-abasement and contrition, he was 
blessed with spiritual apprehensions and reviving disco- 
veries of the Saviour. His evangelical views of Christ's 
person and work, are manifest from a variety of entries. 
With regard to his divinity ; " This morning," he says, 
July 2, 1714, "I awakened between 4 and 5, with that 
sweet word, John xvii. 4. 6 Father, glorify thou me with 
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was ;' in which word, I got a view of 
the divine nature of the Lord Jesus, which made my 
soul to acquiesce in him as a complete Saviour and Re- 
deemer." — With regard to his coming in the flesh: 
" Looking forth again this night at my window, Dec. 
17, 1714, and seeing the glory of God in the heavens 
and the stars, I admired the greatness and glory of the 
eternal Lord, and I wondered at his condescension in 
assuming the human nature. The greatness of that 
condescension is such, that it shocks reason, and con- 
founds the soul with admiration, and is almost ready to 
stagger faith, and cause the believer to say, 6 Can such 
a thing be ?' But, O it is true, it is true : His ways are 
not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts ; but 
as the heavens are high above the earth, so are his ways 
above ours, and his thoughts above ours. I rejoiced 



96 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to think of the truth of it, that the great God is become 
man, bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, my friend, 
my elder brother, my husband."— With respect to his 
vicarious obedience^ suffering f s, and death. " July 18, 
1716. About 5 at night, I went to God in prayer alone, 
and was helped to exercise faith on the blood and merits 
of Christ. I saw evidently, the dignity and excellence of 
his person, which gave value and worth to the whole of 
his undertaking in the room of lost sinners. I saw the 
whole preceptive part of the law fulfilled by his perfect 
obedience ; and the penalty of it endured by him in his 
death upon the cross. And thereupon my soul cried 
out, O Lord, I see myself a debtor to the whole law, 
and in myself I am undone for ever, if thou proceed 
against me according to the tenor of the covenant of 
works : but, O Lord, I flee unto the righteousness of 
God. Here is my Surety's active obedience, whereby 
the whole covenant of works is fulfilled, yea, magnified 
and made honourable. Here is his passive obedience, 
by which the justice of God is for ever satisfied in my 
room, so that now I cannot come into condemnation, 
my Surety having been condemned for me. The view 
of this made a Sabbath of rest in my soul, which, I 
hope, shall never have an end. My soul freely dis- 
claimed all pretensions to any righteousness in itself, 
and acquiesced entirely in the righteousness of God, 
crying, This is my rest, here will I dwell, for I have 
desired it. As for my sins, I see them all swallowed 
up in the ocean of Christ's merit. And as for my own 
personal obedience to the law, I see that there is no- 
thing left to me, but to serve the Lord, without fear, in 
holiness and righteousness, all the days of my life ; in 
regard that weakness on my part cannot make void the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



97 



covenant of grace, which is sealed with the blood of 
Christ. I was made to pray for the Spirit of Christ to 
be poured out upon me ; and believed that, in some 
measure, I have the Spirit, and shall have it yet in a 
more liberal measure, to kill all my sins and corrup- 
tions, and to make me meet to be a partaker of the in- 
heritance. I find that nothing but such a view of Christ 
as this can give ease or quiet to a poor soul under the 
charges of the law, and the accusations of conscience. 
But when I get this view of the Lord Jesus, I see I may 
boldly say, " Who can lay any thing to my charge ? It 
is God that jus tifieth : Who is he that condemneth? 

It is Christ that died . My soul was made to rest 

in the way of salvation though Christ, because I saw it 
to be a way to glory, which for ever empties and de- 
bases man, and which contributes for ever to exalt and 
magnify the glory of free, free grace. Thanks be unto 
God for his unspsakable gift." 

Mr. Erskine, it is evident, clearly discerned the sanc- 
tifying as well as the consoling power of the cross. Of 
this, the following lively passage affords still further 
proof. Having adverted to a discovery of the grace of 
God in Christ, by which his fears were dispelled, he 
thus continues : " And, O my soul wondered at the 
height, the depth, the breadth, and the length, of his 
love in him. I saw his righteousness to be a broad 
everlasting righteousness, sufficient to justify ten thou- 
sand millions of worlds, being the righteousness of God. 
On this blessed bottom I rest and roll my soul for ever 
and ever. On this blessed foundation, do I build all 
my hope. O shall ever such a mass of iniquity as T 
am, be admitted to behold the glory of the Lamb, and 
sing hallelujahs unto him, with the rest of the redeemed 

F 



98 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



company. If I were sure to be with him where he is, 
and to be eternally rid of sin, I would be glad, glad 
that my soul thi* moment should break prison, and fly 
out of ihe clay tabernacle in which it is coopt up. 
Words cannot tell the longing that I find in my soul 
after the immediate enjoyment of the blessed Jesus. 
I hope that time shall eome ; because he gives, I think, 
some of the earnests of it, and because he will satisfy 
the longing soul, and fill the hungry with good things. 
Christ i- the cone- tone of my happiness.— The only 
thing. 1 hat mars my comfort, and mixes my wine with 
water, and gives a dash to my hopes, is the prevalence 
of sin. I am led cap J ive by it. I am afraid that I do 
not walk after the Spirit, but alter ihe fle h. Bui: this 
I can sa3 r , that I would fain be rid of the body of sin. 
If my worthless heart do not deceive me. I desire to re- 
ceive Christ for sanelificalion. as well as for justification. 
O to have his law written on my hea? \ as widi a pen 
of iion, as vrth the point of a diamond."" " It pleased 
the Lord," says he e^ain ; " to bruise him as our Surety. 
O how biiter should th ; s ma Ire sin to me. fhat it is so 
hateful to my covenan ed God, and to my b!e ed Re- 
deemer, who suffered so much for it.' " I thought 
with myself, who would not love such a blessed one, 
and who would not obey him, who shed the waim blood 
of his hear, for love to lost sinners? O that my soul 
may be changed into his image. O that I may have it 
for my heaven through eternity, to behoM, admire, and 
praise him. What a sweet sight will it be. to see him 
who was de<<d. and is alive, and lives for evermore !" 

His attention was directed to his Redeemer, not only 
as crucified, but as risen and exalted. The luminous 
and cheering views he entertained of his resurrection. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



99 



ascension, intercession, and glorious appearing, are ex- 
pressed in the following en ries : 

" P. Dec. 3. 170S. My k@ait is glad, and my g ] ory 
rejoicetii, that I have a great High Kriesi, who m passed 
into the heaven^ Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Glory 
to the Lord ; I may now a^k any tiling thac I need, and 
may ask it wi Ih bold aess, and may now believ e 1 faafc I shall 
have whatsoever I need ; justification, sanct ucation, 
adootion, victory over corruption, atheism, hardness, 
and all the plagues of my hea . Since Christ is risen, 
I will *et my affrcions on things ilia tare above, where 
Christ is at «he right hand of God. 

"Oct. 25, 171 J. I went last night 10 Straihmiglo, 
where I tarried all nigh*, in Mr.. George Gillespie's, I 
came home again this night. I went to my closet, and 
read in my ordinary, Luke xxiv. concerning the resur- 
rection of Christ, and his appearing to his disciples. 
After reading, it was somewhat sweet to my soul. — 
What a mercy is it that Christ did not immediately 
ascend into glory after his resurrection, wi hout show- 
ing himself, and giving such ev'dences of his resurrec- 
tion to his people. Hence I moke Ibis remark, that 
Christ i°~ better than his word ; for I do not remember 
in all the Old Testament, any promise by which he ob- 
liged himself to con. time so long upon the earth after 
his resurrection. It is only said, Ps. ex. 7, that 4 he 
shall drink of the b ook in the way, and then shall he 
lift up the head ;' and in Isaiah liii. ' I will divide him 
a portion with the g ! eat,' &c. But no obligation upon 
him from any of the prophecies, so far as I can under- 
stand, to continue on earth after his resu? •ectkm, and 
converse with his disciples, and gi ve them evidence of 



100 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

the reality of his resurrection. The prophecies would 
have been fulfilled, though he had never appeared to 
any man, and we would have been bound to believe his 
resurrection, as is plain from verse 26th. O how con- 
descending is he ! and what a blessed security hath he 
given for faith to rest upon ! He has left no room for 
our doubting or unbelief. — After I had done with read- 
ing this portion of Scripture, I went to prayer ; and in 
it I found my soul dissolved, as it were, into a flood of 
tears of joy, to think that he who was dead is alive, 
and lives for evermore, and has the keys of hell and of 
death." — " O happy I, that have Christ in heaven be- 
fore me, as my Fore-runner, appearing in the presence 
of God for me, keeping my room in heaven till I shall 
follow him, which, I hope, shall not be long." 

"Jan. 25, 1714. It is my earnest prayer^ and has 
been this considerable time, that the Lord would en- 
crease my faith, that he would blow upon the smoking 
flax and withered spices, and make them to revive. I 
see I might rejoice evermore, if I could believe. — It 
sometimes refreshes my soul, to think of the glorious 
appearing of Christ the Lord, in the clouds of heaven, 
with his glorious train of saints and angels. O that I 
may make a part of his retinue ! I hope it shall be so ; 
for I think he has won my heart, so that I cannot but 
say, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none 
in all the earth whom I desire besides thee. My soul 
chooses the Lord for its only portion and heritage in 
time, and through eternity." 

His faith in Christ, and devout affections towards 
Him , corresponded with the views he entertained of the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



101 



Saviour's character and mediation. His faith was decid- 
edly self-renouncing; as appears from the following 
passage : 

" God was pleased in prayer to give me a sweet view 
of the way of justification by Christ. I saw that it is 
in the Lord Jesus Christ only, that we have righteous- 
ness and strength. My soul did renounce the law as a 
covenant of works, and betook itself unto the better 
Husband, even to him that is raised from the dead, him 
that hath fulfilled all righteousness, and paid the ransom 
as my Surety. I see that the Gospel way of salvation 
is the sweetest way that ever a poor soul travelled in. 
I see that the law has nothing to demand of the soul in 
point of justification, for that is done ; and it has no obe- 
dience to require on this score. As creatures, and as 
Christians, it is true, we are bound to obey the laws 
and commandments of our Creator and Redeemer. 
But the believer may now obey without fear. Legal 
bondage, through fear of death, is gone, because it is 
a state of liberty and freedom from the curse of the law 
which believers are brought unto, and freedom from 
it also as a rigorous exacter of obedience. It is not 
fear but love that now obliges the soul to obedience ; 
and seeing it is the obedience of love, the believer can- 
not but obey with joy, and cheerfulness, and liberty of 
soul, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God." 

While he thus renounced every legal principle and 
hope, he earnestly sought, and in a high degree attain- 
ed, a strong, assured, confiding, and appropriating faith. 
His ardent desire of assurance is thus expressed : 

66 1 see myself standing on the brink of an endless 
state. I see the uncertainty of my time ; I know not 
when the Lord shall call. My soul is panting and 



102 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



thirsting after the Lord. I long to be filled with God, 
and to be in a readiness to depart. I see that I have 
a great God to do with after death, by whose sentence 
I must stand or fall through eternity. I long to be as- 
sured of his love, and to have the full assurance of faith ; 
and I cannot rest till I attain to a well-grounded hope 
of glory. Woe's me, I have lost views of Christ, and 
can see nothing but a great God ; and when I remember 
him, I am troubled at the thoughts of his greatness and 
awful majesty. But O, I am sure, they are happy souls 
that have hl< favour; and his favour is ten thousand 
times better than life." 

Notwithstanding the occasional uncertainty of which 
he thus complain-, his faith was, in general, lively and 
strong. The following sentences, indicating a faith of 
this description, are selected from a number of entries. 

" Though I had all the souls of all the posterity of 
Adam duelling m me ; I could venture them all on the 
infinite vL'iue and \\Jue of the death and obedience 
of the ble sec! JfcscHtJ My souk whh the greatest boldness 
and freedom, roils ir elf upon him and his everlasting 
rigli coii^ne s. He who is God's elect and chosen one, 
is ako my elect, and the choice of my »oul. I delight, 
I rejoice. I { iumph in him." "My soul was made to 
believe lluc God will ta ke away the stony heart, and 
give a heart of fie-ti ; ihkt he will give his Spirit to 
cau-e me io walk in his &tatutes ; ihat the Spirit shall 
lesvify of Chris;, conducing of sin, righteousness, and 
judgment: and di-coveving >he deep things of God unto 
me — becvu e he has promised all these things. God 
hath spoken in his holiness, and, therefore, I will re- 
joice. He cannot deny himself." " I found something 
of Christ, in reading Luke x. particularly verses 23, 24. 



THE REV. EBEXEZER ERSKINE. 103 



4 Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see,' 
&c. Though I have not seen him with my bodily eyes, 
as the disciples did, yet I am blessed also, because he 
has helped me to see him by the eye of failh ; and he 
has pronounced a ble.^ing on such also, John xx. 29. 
' Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have be- 
lieved.' The sights that I have had of him, have filled 
me with a joy that is unspeakable, and full of glory. 
And even at this present time, the very thought of him 
refreshes and lias up my soul ; particularly that word, 
* This is a faithful raying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to bave sinners.' 
It is wbi ibyy worthy, of acceptat ion. Indeed, my soul 
emb: aces him, and accepts of him, with ten thousand 
good mils. I accept of him for all the ends and Ubes for 
whichhe is deigned of the Father; and my veryboal leaps 
for joy, as the babe in Elizabeth s womb, when I read 
or hear of his ever-blessed name. It is good news ; that 
he is the Lord my iighieou,-ne^s, and that through him 
the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in me, so that I 
am ready to die, and to stand as righteous 'before the tri- 
bunal of God, there being no condemnation to them 
that a: e in him. He has obeyed the law. he has borne 
the cm e, he has paid the ran om. He has died and 
risen again, and ascended, and is my Advocate with the 
Father. Who then can harm me ? What can the law, 
or ju tice, or ihe world, or the devil, or conscience, lay 
to my charge? O what ground of triumph is here ! 
Thanks be to God, who always causes me to triumph 
in Christ. This Is my beloved, this is my friend, O 
daughters of Jerusalem." 

The expressions of assurance are often blended with 



104 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the most explicit appropriation. Let two examples 
suffice. 

" P. July 24, 1722. This night, in secret prayer, 
and in family prayer, the Lord loosed my bonds, and en- 
larged my heart ; and the way he did it was by helping 
me to appropriate and apply Christ to my soul, upon 
the ground of the free offer and gift that he has made of 
him to me, in particular, in the Gospel. Oh the little 
word my is a sweet word to my soul. I was made to 
say, my Saviour, my Redeemer, my King, my Priest, 
and my Prophet. He is mine, because God has given 
him to me ; and I cannot please God better than by 
taking him to myself ; and, accordingly, I take him with 
heart and hand, and I bless the Lord that ever gave 
him. O Lord, keep me at < My Lord, and my God,' 
and let me never quit it, through unbelief. And let 
me never quit contending for the appropriating act of 
faith. I bless the Lord that has honoured me, in any 
measure, to contend for it ; and to contribute to set it 
in any light, either among ministers or Christians. O 
that I had a throne for my Redeemer, higher than the 
highest heavens. God has highly exalted him, and I 
desire to exalt him too." 

" July 22, 1 723. — I was made to clasp about, and to 
close with this promise, [viz. ' I will be their God, and 
they shall be my people.'] A God is that which I 
want ; and here I have him. Here I have thy faithful- 
ness pledged, that thou wilt be my God. Here thou 
givest thyself unto me ; and glory to thee, thy gifts are 
without repentance. Thou dost not take a thing, and 
give a thing, as men do. No : when thou givest, thou 
givest for ever ; and, therefore, thou art my God for 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 105 

ever, and my guide even unto death. Here thou givest 
thyself, < 1 will be their God.' What more can the 
most enlarged heart desire, than a God in Christ? 
Here is all at once. Here is pardon, for he is a par- 
doning God. Here is peace; for he is in Christ the 
God of peace, a pacified and reconciled God. Here 
is light ; for God is light, and with him is no dark- 
ness at all. Here is love ; for God is love. What 
tongue can tell, what heart can conceive, all that lies 
within the womb of this word, 6 1 will be their God.' 
O Lord, this is all my salvation ; and the faith and 
hope of this will bear me through life and death, and 
make me to go singing into eternity." 

It is an essential character of a true faith, that it 
worketh by love ; and if we may judge from the candid 
and repeated statements of this humble believer, re- 
specting the movements of his own heart, we cannot 
doubt that his affections towards the Saviour were ex- 
ceedingly ardent. Admiration, gratitude, desire, de- 
light, and devotedness, are often strikingly expressed, 
In addition to the instances comprized in some of the 
preceding quotations ; the following seem worthy of 
notice : 

" O that I could bless God for Christ ; and that I 
could bless him for giving Christ unto me, in particular ; 
and for giving his Spirit to testify of him to me. Hal- 
lelujah ! Blessing, glory, and honour, unto him that 
sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and 
ever. Hallelujah in the highest ! 

" O set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal up- 
on thine arm ; for my love to thee is strong as death . 
Oh ! my desire after him was ardent — to be found in 



106 



LIFE AXD DIARY OF 



him, to be hid in the clefts of this blessed rock of ages. 
My heart got a sweet loosiog ; and the frame of my 
heart dropt oat at my eyes with tears. O that the 
Lord maybe with me while in the world, and keep me 
from the evil of it and make me faithful unto death." 

"A sight of Christ as God-mac. just swallows np 
my spirit — d aws oat my heart so that I have not a 
heart behind. He carries away the flower of the af- 
fections, when he pre. eats himself io the soul. He 
darkeas heaven and earth aad all ihatis the 1 . e : n. The 
angels, ihe sua. the moon, aad 0% is black, in compa- 
rison of him. But O I see darkly, as through a glass. 
When his face, shown through Ihe lattice, ca^ such a 
lustre iliac it c ea es a very heaven io the soul O it is 
the heaven of heaven to be where he is. R'vers of 
pleasure; fulness of joy- are in his p- e ence. O he 
makes me to give my heart, my soul, my body, my 
wife- my child :cu. my servant my' friends- my estate, 
to Ir'm; aad I can refuse lr.m nothing. When he 
shows him e'f. he makes me to lay all down at his 
b.e.:sed feet ; and O I love to g : ve Christ all." 

" O Le is wonderfid, aad I admire his love, and 
ado v e him, aad shall adore him th ough an endless 
everai.v. I hod a coal of red ^ove in my heaH to- 
wards thi^ lovely One. This fire can nefer be quench- 
ed; for he hath sskt that c he wiH not quench the 
smoking flaV but will cfie ish and encourage if, till it 
become a flaming and a burning lamp, io burn ia hea- 
ven for ever end ever. Thanks be to God : who has 
kept his love a ,r ve ia my heart, when I thou gift it was 
cprte drowned with the floods of srn. corruption, 
and temptation.'" — i( O for graee 10 manifest to the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



107 



world, and to my own soul, the reaUty of my love, by 
a holy, tender, humble, aid cheumspecfc walk before 
him, in the land of the living.'' 

A sen-^e of his own unwortbiaess uniformly went to 
enhance his admhation of the love of God ; and often 
did h's soul overflow with amazement at the free ness 
and sovereignty of divine giace. There feelings are 
poured foifh in i he following entries : 

* I am &o v ile and filthy- I know not what name to 
give io myself; and yet grace pays a visit to me. 
Glory to God in the highest. O that I had a trumpet 
to sound h/s piaise, that could make heaven and earth 
to echo and rc-ound." 

H I have been bewildered and ovei powered by sin. 
Mine ia'qaities had separa ed between me and my 
Cnrist; but, blessed be his name, I got a lit tie glimpse 
of his face, which revived me th^s evening, paiucularly 
in that wo cl which I read in my ordinary, Luke xiii. 
11, where Chri k cured the woman rha', had the spirit 
of iah m'ty eighteen yews, and was bowed down so 
that she could not lift herself up. I saw Chri^ I 
thought, in ill's miiaculous cure ; and my soul did 
clasp around him, and run out to him as the Lord my 
righ leousne s and my strength. I had sweet libexty in 
prayer af.er reading. I was he*ped, I thought, to 
plead that he who cured th*s woman, would also cure 
me of my oul-pkigues. By laying h<s hand on he: , he 
healed her; and his, hand is not shortened thaj he can- 
not save; he ha c . not lost any of his power, now in a 
state of exalrat'on. O -hall ever the like of me be ex- 
alted to be w'th h m, to behold his glory. I adore the 
transcendant glory of his free grace, that comes over 



108 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



mountains of impediments in his way. When I cast 
up the clouds, he is pleased, in his free grace, to scat- 
ter them. O what songs of praise shall I sing to free 
grace, in heaven, through eternity.' ' 

" Sabbath, August 28, 1715. — This night I went to 
my knees, and in prayer I sought him whom my soul 
loveth, and I found him. I said many times, and I de- 
sire to say it for ever, 6 Worthy, worthy, worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain/ My soul saw such a worthi- 
ness in him, that the whole world, yea thousands of 
worlds of gold and precious stones, are not able to 
match. O I love him ; I exalt him ; I give him the 
throne in my heart. The everlasting gates open of 
their own accord, when he does but draw aside the vail, 
and manifest himself to the soul. A sight of him is 
enough to ravish the heart, and make every thought a 
captive to his obedience. I look on this manifestation 
as the more surprising, that through the whole of this 
day, in public and in private, my heart has been like a 
stone, so that I had no light, no life. But ere ever I 
was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of 
Amminadib. I have this night to observe, that it is 
free grace that must triumph, and be exalted for ever. 
When I think I am farthest off from any discovery of 
Him, because of sin and guilt, then it is that he com- 
monly comes. Glory, glory unto rich and free grace. 
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, 
be the glory." 

Among judicious writers on experimental religion, 
it is the prevailing sentiment that the gracious pre- 
sence of God, and the consolations of his spirit, are 
usually enjoyed by the Christian, in a degree propor- 



THE REV. EBENE2ER ERSKINE. 



109 



tioned to the fidelity he discovers in the exercise of 
grace, and the discharge of duty* This view of the 
subject is unquestionably confirmed by many passages 
of scripture,* as well as by the testimony of thousands 
of excellent Christians. It is reasonable at the same 
time, to believe Mr. Erskine's account in this and 
other entries of his Diary, and similar candid statements 
that have been given by other pious individuals, who 
positively affirm, that they have sometimes been visited 
with cheering manifestations of divine love, when they 
were particularly conscious of previous declension. 
The fact seems to be, that the freeness and sovereignty 
of the grace of God are displayed, not only in the first 
conversion of sinners, but frequently also in recover- 
ing them from subsequent backslidings, by the power- 
ful manifestation of the saving truth to their conscience 
and heart, at a time when they are thoughtless and se- 
cure. Yet it must not be forgotten, that the renewed 
comfort of the declining Christian never fails to be at- 
tended with humbling convictions and confessions of 
his guilt, and with ardent desires, succeeded by corre- 
sponding endeavours, to glorify God by a more uni- 
form and steady course of holy obedience. The Savi- 
our manifested his sovereign and preventing grace to 
the Apostle Peter, when, after he had basely denied 
him, he gave him a most compassionate and penetrat- 
ing look. Peter immediately went out and wept bit- 
terly. The astonishing mercy of his Lord produced 
that godly sorrow which works a sincere and an abid- 
ing repentance. 

* See for instance Isa. lix. 1, 2; Ch. lxiv. 5; Acts ix. 31 ; 1 John 
Hi. 18-22. 



110 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Mr. Erskine entertained admiring thoughts of Je- 
hovah, both as the God of nature and the God of 
grace. An exquisite sensibility to the beauties of crea- 
tion, and even a disposition to contemplate the divine 
attributes manifested in them, may be found in persons 
who are totally blind and insensible to their own state 
and character as sinners, and to the moral perfections 
of God as displayed in the work of redemption. From 
the most an- icnt times, however, the pious have de- 
lighted to contemplate the Deity in the mighty works 
of his hand, and to unite, in their meditations, the 
w r onders of external nature with the superior wonders 
of redeeming love. The beautiful examples of this de- 
vout propensity that occur in the book of Job, the 
Psalms, and Isaiah, are fitted to make a strong and 
a pleasing impression on every reader. President Ed- 
wards, at the commencement of his Christian course, 
as appears from his own account of his religions expe- 
rience, was accustomed to survey wnh deeo emotions 
of reverence, delight, and astonishment, the excellency 
of the boundless attributes of God shining forth in the 
sun, and moon, and stars, the clouds and a" ire sky, 
and his various other visible works.* Thai: these 
works had a similar effect on the subject of this 
memoir, is evident, from several of the above ex- 
tracts. In the following entries too, we unci him, in 
like manner, rising in his eontem : )<a :ious y . f Dm the cre- 
ation to the Crearor of a<l, from the glories of nature to 
the more illustrious glories of grace — from the bright- 
ness of the starry sky to the inconceivable splendour of 
the heaven of heavens. 

* Life of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, pp. 26, 27- Ed. 1765. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



Ill 



" September 23, 1713, between 7 and 8 at night.— 
I was this day at Kirkness and Ballingry, with my 
wife ; and upon the way home, towards the twilight, a 
little after sun-set, the moon appeared in the east, about 
the full : and it pleased the Lord to give me some views 
of his power and glory in that creature. It appeared 
to me to be a vast body, bright and glorious, hanging 
pendular upon nothing, supported only by the power 
of the eternal God. I wondered how there could be 
an atheist in the world, that looked on this glorious 
creature, wherein there appeared so much of the wis- 
dom and power of the Creator." 

" January 4, 1714, about 12 o'clock of the day, in 
my closet. The morning of this day was dark and 
cloudy to my soul. I could see or feel nothing of the 
Lord. But as the day advanced towards its height, so 
the Lord began to dawn and break in upon my soul 
with discoveries of himself. I first got a view of his 
glory in the bright heavens, and in the clouds that are 
stretched forth above the earth ; and my soul was made 
to wonder at his greatness and glory therein. I was 
led from the creature to the Creator. About 12 I 
went to secret prayer, and my soul was therein so de- 
lighted with the precious thoughts of God, that I longed 
to be in the immediate enjoyment of him, saying, 6 O 
Lord, whenever thou arc pleased to call me off the 
stage of (his wilderness; if thou wilt go wi lime through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will go with songs, 
I will go singing eternal hallelujahs to thy name.' My 
soul is delighted wLh the Thought of being with Jesus 
the Mediator of the new covenant, and with the gene- 
ral assembly and church of the first-burn that are writ- 
ten in heaven, and the spirits of just men made per- 



m 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



feet. I am delighted to think, that, ere long, I shall 
pass through the visible heavens, and mount up above 
the sun, moon, and stars, with a guard of angels at- 
tending me, and come to the new Jerusalem that is 
above, and join issue with them that are singing the 
song, Rev. v. 12, < Worthy art thou to take the book, 
and open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and 
hast redeemed us to God with thy blood, out of all na- 
tions, tongues, kindreds and peoples.' I cannot deny 
but the Lord has given me some spiritual life, spiritual 
likeness and love to himself ; and where he gives grace 
he will also give glory. The chains of salvation can- 
not be broken, Rom. viii. I am sometimes ravished 
with wonder at the freedom of God's grace, that ever 
he should have pitched on the like of me, who was 
dead in trespasses and sins, to be a vessel of honour of 
any use and service. O how sweet is it for me to lose 
myself in those amazing depths of electing, redeeming, 
convincing and calling, justifying, sanctifying, and pre- 
serving grace. I am tongue-tacked, that I cannot praise 
him now ; but I hope to get a loosing, when I come to 
glory. 

" December 14, 1714. — Betwixt 6 and 7 at night, 
I opened my closet window, and it being a clear night, 
I delighted myself a while in contemplating the glory 
of the eternal God in the stars. I saw much of the 
power and wisdom of God therein, and of his admira- 
ble and adorable majesty. O what an infinite and in- 
comprehensible Being is he, glorious in holiness, fear- 
ful in praises, doing wonders. From them I was led 
on to think upon Christ, — that this great God should 
have come in the person of his eternal Son, and taber- 
nacled in our nature in the form of a servant, — that he 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 113 

should have humbled himself, and become obedient un- 
to death, even the death of the cross. My soul was 
filled with amazement at his love and condescension. 
Many sweet texts came into my mind, and my very 
heart did chant them out, and sing them with pleasure, 
such as John iii. 16 ; 1 John iii. 1 ; John i. 14 ; Is. ix. 
6 ; Luke ii. 9. My soul wondered at the excellency of 
the Redeemer, and my heart did burn with love to him, 
and longing after him. I said, with David, Ps. xlii. 
6 As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so pant- 
eth my soul after thee, O God : when shall I come and 
appear before God ?'" 

What is called personal covenanting, or solemn self- 
dedication to God, is an exercise in which this pious mi- 
nister frequently engaged. The following covenant, 
written and subscribed with his own hand, was found 
among his papers :* 

" O my God, because I have so often broken my 
covenant of duty with thee, (though blessed be thy 
name, thy covenant of grace with my Surety can never 
be broken,) I do this day ratify and renew it, and ear- 
nestly desire grace from thee, O Lord, to keep it in 
another manner than I have done. I being of myself 
weak and insufficient for any thing, do again and again 
earnestly desire and crave thou wilt deal with me ac- 
cording to thy own sweet promise, on which I lay my 
soul's salvation, and remember the word, O faithful 
God, recorded in Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 6 A new heart also 
will I give thee ; and a new spirit will I put within 
thee ; I will take away the stony heart out of thy 
flesh, and I will give thee a heart of flesh ;' on which 



* Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 45, 1st ed. 



114 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



words thou hast caused thy servant to hope. In the 
faith that thou wilt fulfil thy word, I renew and ra- 
tify my former covenant, and swear myself to be the 
Lord's for ever in a perpetual covenant. Wherefore I 
not only with my hand, but with my heart, set to my 
name, 

Ebenezer Areskine, thy sworn servant." 

This interesting document is without date. It ob- 
viously refers, however, to a previous transaction of 
the same nature ; and we have to state that his Diary, 
though it does not contain precisely the same form of 
words, records similar exercises bearing a variety of 
dates. In more than one, his wife and family are ex- 
pressly associated with himself in the surrender he 
makes to God ; and all of them, while a few expressions 
might perhaps admit of improvement, breathe, on the 
whole, a spirit equally devout and evangelical. He 
deliberately professes his entire acquiescence in Christ 
as his only Saviour and righteousness ; and the recog- 
nition of his obligations to holy obedience is accompa- 
nied with humble dependence on that promised grace? 
without which, he knew, he could do nothing. We 
have already seen an instance of his covenanting so 
early as in the month of November 1708.* It seems 
proper, however, to introduce, at least, another exam- 
ple of this exercise, which took place at a time when, 
with peculiar solemnity, he returned to the Lord, after 
a season of declension. 

" December 14, 1713. Betwixt 7 and 8. p. m. This 
afternoon, the Lord has been setting mine iniquities 
before me, reproving me of sin, and letting me see how 



* See above, p. 85. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 115 



vile I am ; how every clause and article of the covenant 
of works, every command of the broken law, is crying 
for wrath and vengeance against me. I see I am undone 
for ever in myself ; and that vengeance through eternity 
will pursue me, if I get not into Christ. In this case 
I went to God in prayer, and acknowledged mine ini- 
quities, and in particular the sin that lies heaviest on 
my conscience, and professed to him my sincere reso- 
lution to forsake all known iniquity, and 6 mine iniqui- 
ty/ in a particular manner. And thereupon I was 
made to renew, and come under a solemn covenant be- 
fore the Lord, saying, Lord, if I have done iniquity, 
through thy grace, I am resolved to do so no more. I 
flee for shelter to the blood of Jesus, and his everlast- 
ing righteousness ; for this is pleasing unto thee. I offer 
myself up, soul and body, unto God the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. I offer myself unto Christ the Lord, 
as an object proper for all his offices to be exercised 
upon. I choose him as my Prophet for instruction, il- 
lumination, and direction. I embrace him as my great 
Priest, to be washed and justified by his blood and 
righteousness. I embrace him as my King, to reign 
and rule within me. I take a whole Christ, with all 
his laws, and all his crosses and afflictions. I except 
against none of them. I will live to him, I will die to 
him ; I will quit with all I have in the world for his 
cause and truth. Only thou must be surety for me, * 
and fulfil in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness. 
Thou must fulfil both thy own part and my part, of 
this covenant ; for this is the tenor of thy covenant, 
' 1 will be their God, and they shall be my people ; I 

* On the nature of Christ's suretiship, see Boston's View of 
the Covenant of Grace, Head II. 



116 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



will put my spirit within them, and cause them to walk 
in my statutes ; w r hen thou passest through the waters 
I will be with thee ; I will never, never, never leave 
thee nor forsake thee.' Lord, upon these terms, I re- 
new my covenant this night ; and I take heaven and 
earth, angels and men, sun, and moon, and stars, the 
stones and timber of this house, to witness, that upon 
these terms, I give myself away, in soul and body, in 
estate, and all I am or have in this world, unto God, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And upon these terms 
I subscribe myself, 

Thy sworn servant for ever, 

Eb. Erskine." 

He adverts to the renewing of his covenant about 
eight months after, on the evening of Sabbath, August 
1, 1714, on w r hich he had assisted in administering the 
Lords' Supper at Orwell. At this moment, as well as 
for some time preceding, he, in common with many 
others of the Presbyterian clergy, had reason to antici- 
pate the approach of suffering for righteousness sake, 
His entry here is concluded in the following manner : 

" I recognised in secret, the solemn dedication 

I had made of myself in public, and avowed the Lord 
to be my God. I was made to say that, through his 
grace, I would die for him, and would die at a gibbet 
for him, if he would be with me to carry me through. 
O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my 
Lord. O I see him to be an all-sufficient portion and 
heritage. I commit myself unto him. I give myself, 
my wife, my children, my servants, my whole family, 
my substance in a world, my flock, unto him. Oh that 
he would bless me, and all that concerns me, Amen 3 
Amen, Amen." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



117 



Conformably to the sacred engagements into which 
he thus repeatedly entered, he exercised a conscientious 
fidelity in cleaving both in principle and practice, to 
his Saviour and his God. From his own memorandums, 
it appears that he was no stranger to temptation ; that, 
however, he made a noble resistance ; and that, in op- 
posing the suggestions of the devil and the workings of 
depravity, he availed himself of the weapons which 
sound reason can furnish, but especially of the sword 
of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and earnest persevering 
prayer. His successful opposition to a violent tempta- 
tion to unbelief respecting our Lord's incarnation is 
thus detailed. 

" Sept. 7, 1713. — I found my vile unbelieving heart 
raising many doubts about the reality of the incarna- 
tion of the Son of God, as a thing impossible. It was 
a blasphemous thought sometimes suggested, as if Jesus 
of Nazareth were but an impostor ; which I tremble to 
mention. But I think there is enough to silence unbe- 
lief on this head, when I consider, 1, That all the Old 
Testament prophecies are fulfilled exactly in him, par- 
ticularly these, Is. liii. Dan. ix. at the close, and Is. vii. 
14. 6 Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, 
and shall call his name Immanuel.' 2, History tells 
us that the Scribes and Pharisees, being filled with won- 
der at his wise questions and answers, looked on him as 
the Messiah, and entered his name, Jesus the Son of 
God and of Mary. 3, The doctrine which he taught 
has the stamp of heaven upon it. 4, The miracles 
which he wrought, were a confirmation of his mission, 
and of his doctrine, and showed him to be sent of God. 
*5, He not only wrought miracles himself ; but conferred 
this power upon others ; — power to cast out devils, and 



118 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



command things in heaven, things on earth, and things 
under the earth, to bow at the name of Jesus. 6, The 
very thought and remembrance of him, is sweet to my 
soul. 7, His word, which he taught, has a convincing 
power with it on the conscience of a sinner, unto this 
day. O Lord, establish me in the faith of this great 
gospel-truth, which is worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ came into the world to save sinners. 8, How 
many thousands have died martyrs, and sealed the truth 
of it with their blood. O if it were not a truth of eter- 
nal verity, I were undone, undone for ever." 

The same unfeigned sorrow for the operations of un- 
belief with regard to this capital article of the Christian 
faith, and the same ardent desire to subdue them, are 
strongly expressed at another time, as follows : 

« Jan. 28, 1714, between 7 and 8 at night. This 
day being abroad about the business of my calling in 
the parish, and keeping Session in Ballingry at Mr. 
War drone's desire, who is sick at Dysart ; after I came 
home, I came to my closet, and began to apply my 
thoughts to spiritual things. I found myself ready to 
sink, and drown, and perish, under the power of un- 
belief. My soul was overwhelmed with it so as to 
doubt the reality of the mystery of godliness. I had 
some little view of the majesty of God in an absolute 
way ; and this made me call in question the truth of the 
incarnation of the Deity in the person of -he Son, the 
distance of the two natures being so great ; though, in 
the mean time, I thought it sweet matter of eternal 
triumph and rejoicing, upon supposii ion of the truth of 
it. I have got a loan of Paul's Thoughts of Reli- 
gion, this day, from Sir Robert Douglas. I looked a 
little on it, and found a chapter concerning Christ, and 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSXINE. 



119 



the proofs of his being the Christ. This did give me a 
little assistance, and helped my unbelief. After this I 
took the Bible, and read the 20th chapter of Matthew ; 
where I saw yet more of Christ, and particularly in 
that word : 6 The Son of man came not to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom 
for many.' I saw something of the glory of Christ in 
curing the two blind men with a touch of his hand ; 
which could be done by none but God himself. This 
did farther establish and confirm my faith. After this, 
I went to pray, and found some life ; but was much 
troubled with a dead, wavering, heart. I saw much of 
the depravation of my nature, and aversion from God, 
and inclination towards vanity, in the wanderings of my 
heart. O I regret, if I could, with tears of blood, the 
prevalence of unbelief, and the sad bent that I find in 
my heart, to depart from the living God. It was my 
desire to the Lord, I remember, that he would even 
make my soul to clasp around him, and that he will 
clasp my soul in his everlasting arms, that I may never 
depart from him. O I think my faith is faint and lan- 
guid ; I long to have it encreased ; and the Lord will 
satisfy the longing soul, and fill my hungry soul with 
good things. O to be established and confirmed, — 
* strong in the faith, giving glory to God.' *' 

A future state of existence is another fundamental 
article of religion he was sometimes tempted to ques- 
tion ; but this temptation also, he firmly and success- 
fully repelled. He thus describes his exercise on one 
occasion : 

" December 28, 1713, about 10 o'clock p. M. I have 
for a long time been tempted to doubt of a life to come, 
or a future state ; and this evening my wife and I, after 



120 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



supper, had a discourse on this topic, and several argu- 
ments presented themselves to me, which were very 
convincing : such as, 1, If there be no life after this one, 
it follows, that beasts are as high as men ; there is no 
difference between the rational and irrational crea- 
tures ; both perish alike at death. 2, The wicked 
would be the most happy men in the world, and the 
godly would be the most miserable, if in this life only 
they had hope ; which is inconsistent with the equity 
and justice of God. 3, There would be no difference 
betwixt sin and virtue. 4, The devil would never be at 
such pains to tempt men, and draw them to sin, because, 
instead of tempting to what is hurtful to them, he would 
tempt them to their happiness ; for the pleasures of sin 
would be the great happiness of men, if there were no 
life to come. 5, Because the Bible would be but a fa- 
ble ; no reality in it. 6, God would be a liar, which 
it is blasphemy to imagine ; he having in his word as- 
serted that there is a reward for the righteous after this 
life. 7, All preaching, praying, praising, is to no pur- 
pose ; and saints in all ages have been arrant fools, to 
suffer so many hardships, in hope of a future life." 

" These arguments convince me, beyond all manner 
of dispute, that there is a life to come after this ; and I 
am persuaded all the -devils in hell will never be able 
to answer them, nor all the foolish suggestions of an 
unbelieving heart. The Lord establish me in the faith 
of this great truth, more and more." 

The tenderness of his conscience was discovered, not 
only in combating temptations to error, but also in 
avoiding every appearance of sin. With holy solici- 
tude, he watched and resisted the first risings of depra- 
vity in his heart, and studied to keep every appetite and 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



121 



passion under due control. It was his constant en- 
deavour, for example, to repress the motions of that se- 
cret pride and self-applause, which is apt to prevail 
against even good men, to whom public and important 
duties are assigned. 

" I was this day tempted with pride," says he, March 
8, 1715, " and a vain elation of mind, on the compo- 
sure of a sermon which pleased me, and which I was 
preparing for Edinburgh Sacrament on the 20th of this 
month. It is a wonder that the Lord, — he who beholds 
the proud afar off, — does not blast me in some visible 
way, on this account. I prayed to the Lord, to deli- 
ver me from pride of gifts. O it is a hateful sin. O 
Lord, keep me from it ; and help to be humble, to be 
like Christ ; and to preach Christ, and not to preach 
myself." 

The resolutions contained in the following entries, 
with regard to a certain indulgence to which, without 
question, many Christians, as well in public as in pri- 
vate stations, have been immoderately addicted, may to 
some appear weak and superstitious ; but they will com- 
mend themselves to others, as exemplifying a minute- 
ness of Christian vigilance, not unworthy of a rational 
and a vigorous mind. 

" Aug. 20, 1714. This evening, while I was shear- 
ing some tobacco to be snuff, I had a check for my ex- 
cesses in the use of it ; and that because, in my last 
fever, I resolved to leave it, and because what I spend 
in this way, if bestowed in charity, would do good to 
some of the poor people of God ; and besides, I am too 
much under the power of it. When I was thinking that 
I might leave it afterwards, that sciipture came in upon 
me, ; Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 

G 



122 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



thy might.' On this consideration, I again resolved 
that I will be more moderate in the use of it than I 
have been, and if I can, I will endeavour to quit it alto- 
gether. O Lord, deliver me from every evil word and 
work ; and let me never lay any sin whatever in the 
balance with the light of thy countenance, or the least 
smile thereof. O kill every lust and idol in my heart, 
by the virtue of the blood of the Lamb." 

" Nov. 8, 1714. The great Apostle, if it would of- 
fend his brother, would eat no flesh while the world 
standeth ; and when it offends my own soul, and is a 
breach of my covenant-engagements to God upon a sick 
bed, to continue in the use of this, shall not I forsake 
it ? And therefore, through the grace of God, from this 
time and forward, I am resolved to fulfil 'my vow to the 
Lord, and to quit the use of snuff ; except I see some 
evil consequence and fruit to follow upon it, prejudicial 
to my health, or sight, or the like : For I reckon that 
in that case, it would be sin for me not to use it as a 
medicine. Every creature of God was designed for the 
service of man ; but man was never designed to serve 
any creature ; which we become guilty of, when we are 
so wedded to the use of it, that we cannot want it, 
though the necessity of nature does not call for it. O 
that I, through the Spirit, may be helped to mortify the 
deeds of the body, that I may live. It is an inverting 
of the very order of nature, when man becomes a slave 
to any of the inferior creatures. God did put all things 
under his feet, to be as it were, servants to him ; but 
when we come under the power of any thing, whether 
lawful or sinful, we invert the order that God has made, 
give inferior creatures the authority ; and we become 
servants unto them, by the worst kind of servitude and 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



123 



slavery, — to be under the power of a lust, or corrupt in- 
clination of the flesh. The Apostle Paul resolves on 
this account, to beat down the body, and to keep it in 
subjection ; comparing it to a wild beast, that must be 
daunted, and tamed with stripes and severity. It is 
necessary for me therefore, I find, both as a creature 
and as a Christian, that I keep my soul in its room, and 
my body in its own room also, that I keep inferior crea- 
tures in their own room, and make them subject to me 
and to the great end of my being, and not me a slave 
to them. I must use the creature only in a subservient 
way." 

In none of the subsequent entries, does any allusion 
to the use of snuff occur ; from which it seems probable 
that his determination respecting it had been carried 
into effect. 

A deep-toned spirituality of mind was a distinguish- 
ing lineament in Mr. Erskine's character ; and some 
further illustrations of it, supplied by his diary, will 
form an appropriate conclusion to this chapter. About 
the close of the year 1708, he was obliged, it appears, 
to engage in a law-suit with some individual who refus- 
ed to pay a just debt. This business, however, put him, 
in a manner, out of his element. He much regretted 
its necessity; and he candidly acknowledges what he 
felt, of the unhappy tendency of such affairs, to obstruct 
divine communications, and secularize the mind. 

« Dec. 28, 1708. I was called to go to Edinburgh 
lately upon a law business ; but O it was a sad business 
to me. I have lost my wonted liveliness. I find that 
I no sooner concern myself with the world, than my 



124 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



heart clings and cleaves to it. O the mass of iniquity 
that is in my heart ; I deplore the carnality of it. I 
have been under a lamentable deadness this some time 
past ; but this night in prayer, I thought I got my bands 
a little loosed. I got sweet freedom in prayer, liberty 
to plead the promise. If it were possible, I would be 
content to take a whole Godhead, a Trinity, into my 
heart. Lord, make a gale of the wind of thy Spirit blow 
open the everlasting doors, that a way may be made for 
thee into my heart and soul. O come, Lord Jesus, 
who art highly exalted ; do thou grant me grace for 
grace out of thy fulness. O come to me, and when 
come, do thou stay, and make thy abode." 

A few days after, he adds : " Jan. 2, 1709, Sabbath, 
after Sermon. My tongue was loosed to ask of God 
in prayer. I was made to pray, particularly, that the 
Lord would deliver me from the smiles of this world, 
from being entangled with worldly business ; and that 
he would deliver me from the plagues of my own evil 
heart, from pride, from unbelief, from instability, from 
atheism. And that which I founded my expectation 
upon was, that these things were agreeable to his will ; 
and that it is the Mediator's work in heaven, to inter- 
cede with the Father, that his people here on earth may 
be kept from the evils of the world, and from offending 
God. And sure I am, I cannot but be heard, when 
asking the same things which Christ is asking for me." 

A genuine readiness of disposition to derive sacred 
lessons from external objects and providential occur- 
rences is usually regarded as indicating a spiritual 
mind. In addition to the proofs of such a temper in- 
cluded in the foregoing extracts, we have another me- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



125 



morable instance in the following brief entry ; the pre- 
cise date of which is now illegible, while the one imme- 
diately preceding, is dated September 23, 1714. 

" There is an account come, of the arrival of King 
George, and a great rejoicing for it in Edinburgh. I 
see the fires and illuminations of that city, reflected on 
the skies. O how will the heavens reflect and shine 
with illuminations, when the King of kings and Lord 
of lords shall erect his tribunal in the clouds, and come 
in his own glory, and his Father's glory, and in the glo- 
ry of the holy angels. O what a heartsome day will 
that be. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall we appear with him in glory. We shall 
then lift up our heads with joy, because it shall be a 
time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." 

Human nature is so constituted, that whatever deeply 
engages our attention by day is apt also to employ our 
thoughts by night ; and the meditations of our waking 
hours seldom fail to influence the workings of the ima- 
gination in our dreams, when asleep. On this princi- 
ple the following memorandums may give us a high 
idea of the ascendency which the concerns of God and 
eternity possessed in the writer's mind. 

" Tuesday morning, August 17, 1708. Being the 
week immediately before our sacrament, I was laying 
in my closet-bed sleeping ; and I thought in my sleep 
that I got my head thrust out of time into eternity ; 
and O what ravishing glory did I then behold. I 
thought I saw nothing but glorjr, glory ; and that I 
could see no corporeal form or representation of any 
thing ; but only my heart leapt, and beat, and panted 
within me, to have more and more of this glory, and to 
be swallowed up for ever in it," 



126 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" October 19, 1713. Last night when I fell asleep, 
I was in a good frame. I was filled with soul-elevating 
apprehensions of the glorious majesty of the infinite 
and eternal Godhead, and this filled me with soul-debas- 
ing and humbling thoughts and apprehensions of my- 
self. I thought, at the time, it was a pity to fall asleep 
in such a case. However, I did fall asleep, the necessi- 
ty of the clay tabernacle, after preaching through the 
day, requiring it. Yet the Lord did not leave me, even 
when I was sleeping ; for I found him coming in upon 
my soul, as it were, with an overpowering flood of joy 
and consolation, and my soul, as it were, enlarging and 
widening herself, to receive more of the Lord. How 
eager was my soul in its motions and desires after the 
Lord ; and O what sweet satisfaction did it yield to my 
soul, to find myself so near to God ! My heart leapt 
for joy, to think of its relation to the Lord, and of his 
wonderful kindness." 

" August 4, 1714. I dreamed that I was at Jerusa- 
lem, and when I was there, I thought I remembered the 
sweet and pleasant days that David had in that place 
of old ; and I sung in my sleep the words of the 
Psalmist, 

c Jerus'lem, as a city, is 
Compactly built together,' &c. 
I remembered that this city was a type of the church of 
Christ ; and that Christ had now come, and had done 
his work, making sacrifice and oblation to cease." 

These passages are by no means introduced here, in 
order to foster enthusiasm, or to countenance the delu- 
lusion of those who imagine, that because they have 
had a pleasant dream respecting Christ or the new Je- 
rusalem, they are authorised to conclude, in the absence 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



127 



of proper Scriptural evidence of true Christianity, that 
they are the children of God and the heirs of glory. 
Not to dilate on this caution, it will gratify the pious 
reader to see one or two examples of Mr. Erskine's de- 
votional feelings, when awaking from sleep. 

" April 12, 1710. This morning, when I awakened, 
I was full of awful impressions of God. The Lord 
made glorious discoveries of himself unto me. I 
thought he was in me, and about me. My soul was 
delighted with the discovery, and I was made to wish 
and pray that the impressions of God I then had, might 
continue with me all the days of my life. When I was 
under these impressions, I thought I durst not allow my- 
self in any known sin for a world." 

" September 20, 1721. This morning, a little after 
I awakened, I began to turn my thoughts towards the 
Lord Jesus ; and the Lord encouraged me in my en- 
deavour, by a sweet gale of his Spirit, testifying of him 
to me ; for my meditation of him was sweet. I could 
say that his love is better than wine ; yea, that his lov- 
ing kindness is better than life, and all the comforts of 
life. My heart did burn within me, while I thought of 
him who is Immanuel, and whose name is Wonderful ; 
and what can I say more ? O that I may ascend in 
a glow of love to him, to be with him for ever." " I 
am apprehensive," he adds, " that this is before some 
cloud of darkness or trial coming upon me. Lord, pre- 
pare me for it." 

The manner in which his mind was occupied during 
a comparatively sleepless night, is thus pleasantly de- 
scribed : 

" January 31, 1715. I did not sleep well this last 
night. I lay waking, almost between 12 and 2 in the 



128 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



morning. But it pleased the Lord to make it for the 
most part a sweet time to me. The Lord was pleased 
to give me some sweet views of wonderful Jesus, so 
that I could in some measure say with David, Ps. lxiii. 
5, 6, 6 My soul was satisfied as with marrow and fat- 
ness, and my mouth did praise thee with joyful lips ; 
when I did remember thee upon my bed, and meditate 
upon thee in the night watches ;' and verse 8, 6 My 
soul followeth hard after thee.' I was refreshed to find 
the kindly warming of my soul towards this amiable 
Lord. I was made to bless him that ever kindled this 
fire in my breast, and to rejoice in hope of the glory of 
God. I am sure that where he draws the soul with 
loving kindness, he hath loved with an everlasting love ; 
and those whom he hath loved with an everlasting love, 
he will never cast away ; for he rests in his love, and 
changes not. It cannot be that ever he will cast away 
the soul that loves him so dearly, as, through his grace, 
I feel myself to do. I think that the flames of love to 
Christ in the heart cannot stand with the flames of 
hell. Yea, such flames would do much to mitigate and 
extinguish the flames of hell, — they burn so sweetly 
and strongly. O that I may feel more and more of it." 

In the preceding quotations we have repeatedly seen 
such expressions of ardent panting after entire delive- 
rance from every trace of corruption, and after the im- 
mediate and full enjoyment of the Saviour as afford 
abundant evidence of an eminently spiritual mind. 
There are two passages more of the same heavenly cha- 
racter, which cannot with propriety be omitted. The 
one is the very first entry in the Diary, which is as fol- 
lows : 

" November 22, Saturday, 1707. About 5 o'clock at 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



129 



night, I sat down on my knees, and went about the du- 
ty of prayer. I felt a great deal of deadness ; and yet 
I thought I had some, though very little, life. After 
prayer, I proceeded to the work of meditation ; and O 
it was sweet. I cannot tell how I was ; but O how did 
I long to be in heaven, to be free from sinning, to be 
free from a carnal wandering heart. What high 
thoughts had I of God, and of Christ. O to be where 
Christ is, and where the glorious company of the re- 
deemed are ! How welcome will Christ make me 
when I come to heaven ! How will angels welcome 
me ! How will the saints of God welcome me ; and 
how sweetly will they and I join together in singing the 
praises of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world! O to be above with Christ! Amidst all 
these sweet thoughts that I had, I had these texts 
sweetly borne in upon me, 6 He will speak peace to his 
people, and to his saints ; but let them not turn again to 
folly;' 6 He that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure.' I was also filled with earnest desires 
that the Lord would make me a blessed instrument of 
doing good to souls in this congregation of Portmoak ; 
that he would help me to commend precious Christ un- 
to them, and to speak to his commendation. O that 
the Lord would take me out of an evil world, or keep 
me from the evil of the world." 

The other passage referred to begins with lively ex- 
pressions of gratitude to God for his goodness, and 
closes with the statement of an interesting reason for 
mingling resignation to the will of God as to the time of 
his departure, with the most vehement longing for the 
heavenly bliss : 

" Friday, August 27, 1714. This night, in family 



130 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



worship, I got some most satisfactory and engaging dis- 
coveries of the goodness of God, and of his kindness 
and care towards his people, and towards my family. 
I was made to praise him particularly for many unseen 
mercies, which were never perceived by me ; and espe- 
cially for the ministration of his good angels. I was 
made to wonder that he should make these good angels 
ministering spirits to the like of me, against whom he 
might arm the whole creation. O it is a wonder that 
any of God's creatures should do us service, but yet 
more so, that these glorious creatures should minister 
for our good. And O it is yet infinitely more love, 
that the eternal Son of God came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many. It is little wonder that the angels be minister- 
ing spirits to the elect, when the God of angels, their 
great Lord and Creator, was pleased to take upon him 
the form of a servant, and was made like unto me in 
all things, sin only excepted. I remember that I would 
have thought it a privilege to be near unto death, that 
I might be nearer to the enjoyment of the ever-blessed 
Immanuel, to behold his glory, and sing his halle- 
lujahs in the higher house. O it is reviving and sup- 
porting to my soul, to think that the time is coming, 
when I shall be for ever with the Lord, perfectly free of 
sin, and of every thing that now separates between him 
and me. O I love him and desire him above all things. 
I remember that in prayer I expressed some longings 
to be away to sing hallelujahs to the worthy Lamb ; 
and in the very time of these longings this thought 
darted in upon me, 6 The longer that I live here, I will 
have the more matter of praise through eternity.' It 
is sweet to live in this world, and to live long in it, that 



THE REV, EBENEZER ERSKINE. 131 



I may daily gather fresh experience of the Lord's good- 
ness, as matter of praise in heaven. The longer that I 
live, I will be always the deeper and deeper in debt 
to free grace. I think, if ever I come to heaven, my 
note and song will be more loud and shrill than any of 
the inhabitants of that house which is not made with 
hands. O the depths of his grace and love towards me." 



132 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER III. 

Mr. Erskine's attention to the means of spiritual progress — Per- 
sonal exercises — Reading the Scriptures — Examples of pious re- 
flexions on passages read — Devotional boohs — Prayer and inter- 
cession — Praise — Meditation and self-inquiry — Family -worship 
— Public ordinances, particularly the Lord's Supper — Inter- 
course with Ministers — Correspondence with private Christians 
— Improvement of dispensations of providence — Writing a Diary. 

The chief purpose to be served by a delineation of the 
moral and spiritual excellencies of distinguished men, 
is, no doubt, to allure others to copy their example. 
Our laudable endeavours to emulate the righteous, how- 
ever, will not only be directed, but mightily animated, 
by a correct account of the means which, under the 
influence of the Holy Spirit, proved effectual for en- 
abling them to reach those Christian attainments in 
which they excelled. It seems proper, therefore, to lay 
before the reader some statements contained in Mr. 
Erskine's record of his Christian experience, bearing 
principally on the use he made of divine ordinances, 
and on the various methods he employed for accelerat- 
ing his progress in the path of holiness. These state- 
ments, indeed, have unavoidably been anticipated, in 
some degree, by the extracts brought forward in the 
preceding chapter. But more circumstantial materials 
relating to this view of his conduct still remain ; and a 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 133 

selection from them will at once throw additional light 
on his character, and point out the way by which emi- 
nent godliness has been usually attained and promoted. 

This exemplary man attended faithfully to the per- 
sonal exercises of devotion. Instead of performing these 
duties rarely, or in a superficial and cursory manner, 
or merely with a view to preclude the clamorous accu- 
sations of conscience, he engaged in them with fre- 
quency, with deliberation and solemnity, and with 
heart-felt delight. 

We have seen that, after the happy change that took 
place in his views and feelings, he placed a cordial es- 
teem on the Scriptures as an accredited and invaluable 
revelation of the will of God. His gratitude for the 
Bible is often expressed, as in these words : 

" March 16, 1709. This night, about 8 o'clock, I 
sat down upon my knees to pray, and the Lord was 
pleased to let me know something of his gracious pre- 
sence. I was helped to praise him for his word, for 
his blessed Bible ; that ever He, the great and infinite 
Jehovah, condescended to make known his will to the 
like of me, and unto me in particular. I was made to 
bless God for the freedom of the blessed way of salva- 
tion, for the firmness of the blessed covenant, and for 
what he has spoken in his word. O it is sweeter than 
honey from the honey-comb ; more excellent than gold, 
yea, than the finest gold. O that the Lord would help 
me to exercise faith continually on his word. O let 
never unbelief any more prevail against me." 

Whilst the Scriptures thus attracted his veneration 
and love, he read them daily in his study ; attending 
carefully to their precious contents, and gladly receiv- 
ing those refreshing draughts which they afford to the 



134 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



weary and thirsty soul. For this purpose, he rose early 
in the morning, — sometimes long before the dawn of 
day ; and when the labours of the day were ended, he 
renewed the delightful exercise, often betwixt 7 and 8 
o'clock, sometimes at a much later hour. 

" Portmoak, Aug, 18, 1714. Between 7 and 8 at 
night. Having been abroad through the clay, visiting 
my Lady Strenrie, I came home about two hours ago. 
I have since been endeavouring to turn my thoughts 
towards soul-concerns. I have had some very awful 
impressions of eternity, which filled me with fear and 
consternation. However, the 4th chapter of John's 
Gospel, which I read, yielded me relief and enlarge- 
ment. I saw Christ in the preciousness of his word, 
through the whole. I saw him in the word, v. 6th ; 
6 Jesus being wearied, sat on the well.' O wonderful ! 
the great God, who stretched out the heavens and laid 
the foundations of the earth, sitting in such a posture, 
wearied with a journey. O stupendous condescension, 
that he took on him the sinless infirmities of our nature. 
I saw something of him also in the word, v. 10th ; 6 If 
thou knewest the gift of God,' &c. O wonderful gift 
indeed ! O amazing love, that God gave his only be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have eternal life. I see from these words, 
that Christ loves to have himself known to shiners. I 
see here also, that as soon as the soul knows Christ, it 
desires to partake of his fulness. I see here also, that 
Christ is most willing and ready to communicate of his 
fulness unto them that ask it of him. 6 Thou wouldest 
have asked of him,' says he. 6 and he would have given 
thee living water.' After I had done reading, I went 
to prayer ; and what I had read furnished me with cou- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



135 



rage and confidence. I said with myself ; Oh ! he that 
condescended to meet this woman, and manifest him- 
self to her as the Messiah, — he is as condescending 
still, as ready to take employment, and to communicate 
of his fulness ; and, therefore, I may be emboldened to 
ask of him what I need. I ground my hope, in time, 
and through eternity, only on his death and satisfaction, 
which I see to be of such infinite value, that it is able 
to ransom ten thousand worlds ; for it is the blood of the 
great and everlasting Lord, who created the world.'* 

"Dec. 22, 1714, between 4 and 5 in the morning. 
I read in my ordinary, the 7th chapter of Luke ; where, 
at the close, we are told of the woman that was a sin- 
ner, who came, while Christ was at a feast in a Phari- 
see's house, and washed his feet with her tears, and 
wiped them with the hairs of her head, and anointed 
them with ointment ; to whom Christ said, that her sins 
were forgiven her ; her faith had saved her ; and she 
loved much. In reading these passages, I got a sweet 
view and discovery of Jesus as God-man, and as a Re- 
deemer. My soul delighted in him ; and O how much 
did I wish to have been in the place of this poor wo- 
man ! How great was her privilege \ But it is com- 
fortable to me to think on that word, John xx. 6 Blessed 
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.' O 
I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief." 

"Feb. 1, 1715. This morning my heart would not 
move towards God, or Christ, or spiritual things. But, 
blessed be his name, in reading John xvi. he was pleased 
to draw the vail a little aside, and I could say with the 
disciples, 6 Did not my heart burn within me, while he 
talked with me' in the word ? Oh ! all his words are 
words of wonder, words of grace, words of love ; they 



136 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



are all spirit and life* His* words are known by the 
lustre, beauty, sweetness, majesty, and authority, that 
is in them. They go through the very soul; and sweeten 
the innermost corners of the heart with a joy that is 
unspeakable, — a joy that is a continual feast, and with 
which a stranger doth not intermeddle. How sweet 
is that word, v. 7th, < It is expedient for you that I go 
away,' &c. and verses 13, 14, 27, 33. 

" Feb. 3, 1715. between 7 and 8 at night, Christ is 
precious to my soul. O I cannot think of parting with 
him. This is the only rest of my soul in time, and 
through eternity. He is the very kernel of heaven ; and 
heaven would not be heaven, if it wanted him. I read 
this night the 20th of John's Gospel. How sweet is that 
word, and full of grace ; 6 Go to my brethren, and say 
unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, 
unto my God and your God.' His words make the 
sweetest melody in the soul, that ever was heard. Every 
word of his mouth is like tried gold, durable and valu- 
able. O I long for the immediate enjoyment of him 
in the land that is very far off ; but yet I am in a strait. 
Jordan is deep, and the sight of it frightens me ; but I 
know that if I get the eyes of my soul fixed by faith on 
the Canaan above, death will be so far from frightening 
me, that I will lift up my heart at its approach, and 
welcome it as a herald sent to summon me to take pos- 
session of the crown and kingdom which my Friend 
and elder Brother has prepared and bought for me. O 
joyful day. Amen ; even so, come, Lord Jesus." 

" Sep. 12, 1716. I have been for a long time reading 
in the Old Testament, and took a kind of gleaning time 
afterwards at the New ; and, therefore, this morning, af- 
ter I had read a chapter in my ordinary, in the Old Tes- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 137 



tament, viz. the 1st of the Song, I turned over and read 
the first chapter of Matthew. And O I thought I 
found his very name in the first verse, as 6 ointment 
poured forth ;' particularly v. 21st, ' Thou shall call his 
name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their 
sins.' " 

Though a decided preference was given to the sacred 
volume, other books relating directly to experimental 
and practical religion were not neglected ; and, indeed, 
as the bee gathers honey from every flower, this dili- 
gent Christian was prepared to reap spiritual benefit 
from every work in Theology or Church History, that 
he perused. It will gratify his admirers to see his own 
notices, respecting some of the publications he valued, 
and found truly beneficial. 

"Dec. 21, Sabbath, 1707. In my closet I began to 
read Horton's Orthodox Evangelist, concerning the 
state of the blessed. In reading, my heart fluttered. 
After I had done with reading, I sat down to pray ; and 

it was pleasant. I longed to be gone out of this weary 
wilderness. I desired to be absent from the body, that 

1 might be present with the Lord. And yet, Lord, if 
thou hast any service for me here, I am content to stay. 
If it were but to bring in one soul to the knowledge of 
thee, I am content to live, though it were Methuselah's 
dags upon the earth. But I would fain be away. I 
would fain have a harp put into my hand, to join with 
the blessed company around the throne of the Lamb. 
Lord, whilst thou keepest me in the world, keep me 
near thyself, and far from sin/' 

" Nov. 30, 1710. I had been reading a passage of 
Echard's Ecclesiastical History concerning the ascen- 
sion of Christ, and his sitting down at the right hand 



138 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



of God, as Head and King of the Church, and the Ad- 
vocate of lost sinners. And O how I was made to 
wonder and rejoice at the thought of this, that I have 
such a blessed Friend above to take my part before the 
holy and righteous God ; one that is so nearly related 
to the glorious majesty of God, and so nearly related 
to me, being bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. 
What a blessed ground of courage and confidence is 
this r 

" Dec. 22, 1713. Last week, when I was at the 
Presbytery, I borrowed a copy of Owen on beholding 
the Glory of Christ, John xvii. 24. And in reading it, 
my soul was wonderfully refreshed and confirmed ; for 
as a man sees his face in a glass ; and as the seal is to 
the stamp of it on the wax, so did my experience an- 
swer what is spoken by that holy man. O I find a 
sweet suitableness in those views and discoveries of the 
glory of Christ which I have had, to what he speaks. 
As he says, I find the life of my soul, and the life of all 
my religion, if I know any thing of it, to lie in views 
and discoveries of the glory of the ever-blessed and 
exalted Immanuel, God with us." 

We have seen his notice of Pascal's Thoughts on Re- 
ligion, as a work which served, in the year 1714, to as- 
sist him in rebutting temptations to unbelief. One of 
his Note-books written about that time, it may be stat- 
ed, contains an extract from that interesting perform- 
ance. The writings of the pious Halyburton, Ruther- 
ford, and Trail, were also highly pleasing to his taste, 
and the happy means of comforting and establishing 
his heart. 

"June 9, about 8 at night, 1714. At this present 
time, having been reading a part of Mr. Halyburton's 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



139 



Life, I find many of his experiences, which he relates, 
are to mine like a face in a glass ; — which is reviving 
to me, and gives me good hope, that matters are not so 
ill with me, as I apprehended. After a while's read- 
ing in this book, I went to prayer, and there I found 
the Lord indeed. I got discoveries of the blessed Im- 
manuel, which revived and comforted me, and filled my 
soul with wonder and amazement. My soul longs for 
that happy day, when I shall see Christ, and behold his 
face, without any cloud to interpose between him and 
my soul. O that I could run my race, looking unto 
Jesus ! I find that a sight of him sets all right, and 
makes darkness, and deadness, and blindness, and hard- 
ness, to evanish and disappear. O that I may live in 
the continual view of him, and of his blood !" 

" Nov. 24, 1720. Thursday, being the Fast-day, at 
night. I have been reading Mr. Rutherford's Dying 
Testimony to the work of God in the land, and two 
or three of his Letters. After this a little, I and my 
daughter Jeanie were laying upon the window, the sky 
being clear, and the heavens full of stars ; and O the 
thoughts of Christ were sweet unto me. My soul loves 
him ; and I can say it, c The desire of my soul is to 
him, and to the remembrance of his name and my 
soul is like a bird that would fain be out of the cage, 
that it might be at liberty to mount up on high. O 
that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly away to 
my everlasting Rock and Redeemer. There is a fire of 
love burning in my soul to him, which I hope shall ne- 
ver be quenched, but burn for ever and ever. I got li- 
berty, when laying over the window with my little 
daughter Jeanie, about fourteen years old, and when 
looking up to the heavens, to commend the glorious 



140 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Creator of all things, and particularly 4 the bright and 
morning Star,' and to speak to the honour of his name. 
It is the desire of my soul, to make his name to be re- 
membered unto all generations." 

" 1721, Saturday, about twelve of the day. I have 
been directed this forenoon to read in Mr. Trail, on the 
Throne of Grace, Heb. iv. last verse ; a text that has 
sometimes been sweet and pleasant to me, but I think 
never more sweet than this clay. I bless the Lord, who 
directed that honest man to preach and write, on this 
blessed subject ; and I bless the Lord, that brought his 
book to my hand, and that directed me to read it this 
day. I read some of it with tears of joy, particularly 
p. 135, because I find it the very language of my soul 
many a time, where he has the words following : 

6 Are you saying, that since the Father is well plea- 
sed with the name of Christ, and the Son commands me 
to use it ; and the Holy Spirit has broke this name to 
me, and made it as ointment poured forth, and since its 
savour has reached my soul, I will try to lift it up as 
incense, to perfume the altar above. Since all that 
ever came in this name were made welcome, I will 
come also, having no plea but Christ's name, no cover- 
ing but his borrowed and gifted robe of righteousness. 
I need nothing, I will ask nothing but what his blood 
has bought ; and all that I will ask. I will expect an- 
swers of peace and acceptance, only in this blessed Be- 
loved : beloved of the Father, both as his Son and our 
Saviour ; and beloved of all that ever saw but a little 
of his saving face and glory.' And then, he adds, 6 Let 
such go on and prosper ; the Lord is with you ; the 
Lord is before you ; he will welcome the Mediator in 
his bringing you to him, 1 Pet. iii. 18, and welcome 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 141 

you with salvation, who come in his name for it. The 
Prodigal's welcome, Luke xv. is but a shadow of what 
ye shall meet with. Christ welcomes dearly all that 
come to him; and the Father welcomes the believer 
that comes in Christ's name, and is brought in Christ's 
hand to the throne.' 

" In the reading of these words, my soul was melted 
with a flood of delight and joy. For, O Christ's name 
is to me as ointment poured forth ; I desire to remem- 
ber this name in all my addresses to God. O it is plea- 
sant to come to a God in Christ, for this is the throne 
of grace, to which I may boldly come, to ask grace and 
mercy. Yea, in every thing, I may come with boldness, 
and make my requests known to God." 

To an attentive reading of the Scriptures, and of 
esteemed practical and devotional books, Mr. Erskine, 
as is evident from these extracts, added fervent prayer, 
both stated and ejaculatory. It was his daily practice, 
to make frequent applications, in his closet, to the throne 
of grace, confessing his iniquities, pouring forth his 
sorrows, and imploring with humble confidence every 
necessary blessing. Regarding sin as the worst of evils, 
we find him often soliciting deliverance from it in its 
guilt and power ; and beseeching God not only to cheer 
him with the light of his countenance, but also to con- 
form him more and more to his image, and to strength- 
en him by his Spirit for the discharge of duty. 

" March 22, 1711. After 10 at night. I was at se- 
cret prayer, and was made to pray for the Spirit to 
sanctify me ; and I thought my faith got some sweet 
hold to sist upon in this matter. 1st, That God has 
promised his Spirit to them that ask him ; and this is 



142 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



one of his principal works in the souls of his people, to 
make them holy. 2dly, This word came in also on the 
back of it, which encouraged me to believe ; 6 This is 
the will of God, even your sanctification.' Is not this 
ground to believe, that he will give me his sanctifying 
Spirit, that when I ask his Spirit for this end, I am ask- 
ing what he has promised, and what is agreeable to his 
will." 

" Sept. 12, 1716. After reading, I went to prayer, 
and I found more life and liberty than for a long time 
before. I could not but lament before the Lord, the 
pre valency of sin in niy soul, and the lamentable power 
it has over me. I said before the Lord, words to this 
purpose, O Lord, I am firmly persuaded thou hast an 
interest in my soul ; and shall thy interest be lowest, 
and the interest of sin uppermost ? O blessed Jesus, is 
it not thy office to save thy people from their sin ; from 
the guilt of it in justification, by thy perfect righteous- 
ness ; from the filth and power of it in sanctification, 
for which end thou hast received the Holy Ghost, and 
art made of God sanctification ?" 

Saturday, — , 1722. I endeavoured to renew my 
hold of the Lord Jesus, and to cry that I might be 
found in him, in life and in death. I cried that the love 
of God in Christ might for ever eat up the love of self, 
the love of sin and of every lust, and that I might be 
made to say with Ephraim, < What have I to do any 
more with idols ?' Lord make an everlasting divorce be- 
twixt me and every sin ; and let all the remains of old 
Adam be destroyed in my soul." 

His petitions and thanksgivings often refer expressly 
to his ministerial character and labours. Accordingly 
he says, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 143 

u October 7, 1710. I was made to plead the promise 
of Christ, 6 1 will send the Comforter, and he shall abide 
with you.' O that I had the abiding, the continued 
abiding of the Spirit to sanctify me, to assist me in my 
work, to o^ my chariot wheels. Glory to God for the 
great Mediator, my blessed Aaron, from whom descends 
the oil of gladness on my soul." 

"November 15, 1711. I was made to pray for help 
and strength in discharging my ministerial work, that I 
may have furniture from him who is ascended up on 
high to give gifts unto men, for the edification of his 
mystical body. Blessed be his name, he has carried me 
hitherto, and has not altogether left me. I may set up 
my Ebenezer, and say, 6 Hitherto hath the Lord helped.' 
I have a good master to serve. I bear his commission, 
and therefore I believe he will be with me." 

" Saturday, December 11, 1714. O for grace to 
spend this body of mine, and all the powers of my soul* 
in the service of that God who gave them both to me. 
O let me always see God, always enjoy him, and always 
be possessed with the fear and love of his excellent 
name, in every part of my ministerial work and christ- 
ian walk." 

" February 1, 1715. O to be taught of the Spirit 
how to conduct myself in every circumstance of my life, 
so as God may be glorified and souls edified. I remem- 
ber I cried for the tongue of the learned to speak his 
praises, and commend him to poor souls. And with 
gifts, Lord, grant a suitable ballast of humbling and 
sanctifying grace, otherwise it were better for myself 
that I wanted edifying gifts altogether. But, Lord, 
give what is most for thy glory, and the edification of 
souls, and for my own soul also ; for thou canst give all at 



144 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



once. I am brought to see more of a reality in religion ; 
and of the weight and solidity of the truths of God in his 
word, and of the footing that faith has to found on it, as 
the word of God. Blessed be the author and finisher of 
faith." 

He often prays, in particular, for that vigorous faith 
which he needed as a Christian and a Minister, that he 
might surmount every difficulty, overcome servile fear, 
and finish his course with joy. 

" March 16, 1709. O that I may live continually in 
the sight and view of God. O that he may keep me 
honest in an evil day, and that he may be with me when 
he calls me to undergo trouble for his sake. I know 
that he will be with me in the fire and water ; for he 
hath spoken it, and he hath spoken it in 6 his holi- 
ness.' I believe what he hath spoken is as sure as 
though I had it in hand ; yea, far surer ; for what I have 
in hand I soon lose, but what I have in the promise can 
never be lost, because it is in God's own keeping. 
6 Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.' " 

" January 11, 1714. At 8 at night I went to secret 
prayer, and I was particularly led to plead with the 
Lord, that he would increase my faith. I see that if I 
could win verily to believe that the Bible is the word 
of God, and that all is true that God has there spoken, 
I might rejoice exceedingly. Glorious things are there 
revealed ; — a life to come, the resurrection of the body, 
the full enjoyment of the blessed Immanuel in heaven. 
O to have faith strengthened, and to believe, without 
doubting or disputing, the great truths of religion and 
the promises of the covenant; I would always triumph, 
and trample on the moon of this vain world." 

The supplications of this holy man, though remarka- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



145 



bly humble, and often accompanied with the tears of pe- 
nitence, and even the cry of distress, were much cha- 
racterized by the boldness of faith and the joy of hope ; 
and were, in many instances, immediately rewarded by 
gracious communications and delightful fellowship with 
God. This is evident from the following entries : 

" January 8, 1712, betwixt 10 and 11 at night. I 
remember this morning I was helped, I thought, to 
some direct actings of faith in God's faithful word of 
promise ; and I observed this in my experience, that 
sweetness and satisfaction, peace and joy, immediately 
follow, when I am helped to trust in God's word of pro- 
mise, and to make a fair venture on his bare word, 
when I can feel nothing but deadness, and distance, 
and hardness. I find faith glorifies God, and can ob- 
tain any thing at his hand. I was helped this morning 
to ask some things agreeable to his will, and was made, 
I thought, to believe that he would give them, because 
he has said, 6 Ask, and it shall be given,' and fi What- 
soever you ask, believing, you shall receive/ " 

"March 8, 1715, between 10 and 11 p. M. This 
day has been for the most part cloudy and dark, though, 
blessed be his name, mixed with some sweet blinks and 
discoveries of God. At present, in secret duty, I was 
dull and dead at the beginning ; but before the close, 
my soul was enlarged like the chariots of Amminadib, 
and followed hard after the Lord. I was made to say, 
and to comfort myself in saying it, that I loved to retain 
God in my knowledge. My soul sweetly enlarged her- 
self to receive the fulness of God, and I said, Lord, I 
love to be for ever swallowed up in this ocean of sweet- 
ness, grace, glory, and greatness, that is with thee. I 
open my mouth wide ; do thou fill it. Go on, Lord, 

H 



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LIFE AND DIARY OF 



with the discovery that thou hast begun. I live, and 
resolve to die, in the hope that I shall yet have more 
and more of the Lord, because he has said that 6 his 
goings forth are prepared as the morning,' 6 which 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' I de- 
sire to dwell in God, and to have God dwelling in me. 
O praise, praise, praise, for ever and ever." 

In the fervent petitions and thanksgivings which 
this man of prayer offered up to God, in his retirements, 
he kept in view not only his own concerns, but those of 
others whom the bonds of nature or of Christianity 
obliged him to remember. The lively interest he took 
in the spiritual welfare of his wife and family is mani- 
fest from the terms formerly quoted, in which he ex- 
pressed his dedication of himself and his house to the 
Lord. His intercessions on their behalf were frequent 
and appropriate. — " I was made to pray," says he at 
one time, " for my wife, that the Lord would dispel her 
clouds, and fill her with joy and peace in believing. O 
that he would make her to behold the glory of the 
Lord, and the excellency of my God, so that she and I 
may rejoice together. And O that the Lord would do 
good to my poor babes, make them partakers of the di- 
vine nature, subdue iniquity in them, and sanctify them 
by his grace and spirit. At the same time, I was 
made to build upon the promises of the covenant, and 
to say, 6 In his word do I hope.' " At another time, 
after recording a remarkable enlargement of heart he 
had been favoured with, he adds in like manner, " I 
was made to pray for my poor children, and to give 
them away to the Lord. If I have any interest in 
them, I desire to resign my interest in them entirely 
/to him. O that he would make them babes in grace, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 147 

and that something of God may begin to appear time- 
ously in them." 

His affection for other beloved relatives and for his 
Christian acquaintance operated in a similar way. How 
kindly, for example, does he mention his dear brother 
Ralph, when he was a candidate for license to preach 
the Gospel, as well as some other pious persons, in the 
following entry : 

" P. January 2, Sabbath, 1709. After sermon, about 
7 at night, I got my bonds in some measure loosed ; 
my tongue particularly was loosed to ask of God in 
prayer. Requests flowed in upon me, and I was helped 
to believe that the Lord would answer. — I was made to 
pray for the members of Christ every where, particu- 
larly for Janet Paterson and Jean Pauvit, and my 
brother Ralph. I was made to praise the Lord for his 
grace, wherein he abounded towards them, and to ask 
that his grace towards them might abound more and 
more, and that the Lord would assist my brother in the 
work that he was engaged in, and that he may be 
made a polished shaft in the hand of God, and an in- 
strument to make known to sinners the name of the 
Lord." 

The people of his charge were affectionately remem- 
bered in his daily supplications. — "November 15, 1709, 
about 10 at night. I was in prayer," says he, " and the 
Lord gave me some enlargement to pray that I might 
be instrumental in doing good to some souls in this 
congregation, and that I might be an instrument to 
build up a kingdom for him among this people. This 
is a thing that is according to his will, and it is for the 
glory of his own grace and goodness ; and whatever we 



148 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ask that is according to his will, and for the glory of his 
grace, he will not deny." 

His prayers bear witness to the deep interest he felt 
in the cause of religion every where, and particularly in 
the preservation, the purity, and the prosperity of the 
Church of Scotland. — " April 5, 1714. I read in the 
Old Testament a part of the history of Joseph, and the 
wonderful providence of God in his advancement; in 
reflecting on which, I was furnished with this pleasant 
thought, that it is the great Lord who reigns, and that 
he doth what pleases him in the armies of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth ; and that according 
to his promise, he will make all things work together 
for good to them that love him, and who are the called 
according to his purpose. This furnished me with 
ground of comfort and encouragement that, however 
dark and frowning the present aspect of providence to- 
wards them that fear God in this land, where the wicked 
are triumphing with the ball at their foot ; yet if we 
could see into the womb of providence, we should find 
that there is a design of love on foot towards his own 
people, and all shall be turned about in the issue to 
God's glory, and the advantage of all that love him. 
On this ground I encouraged myself to address him in 
prayer, on behalf of his interest and people in this land." 

The same warm attachment to the Church of Scot- 
land which led him thus to beseech God to avert the 
dangers that threatened it towards the close of Queen 
Anne's reign, induced him also to implore the divine 
direction and support to those Twelve Brethren, who, 
about seven years after, united in making a noble stand 
in defence of the doctrine of grace.— " August 15, 1721." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 149 

After prayer for the spirit to sanctify his own heart, he 
adds, " I was helped in some measure to plead that the 
Lord would espouse his quarrel, in which a few of us 
are engaged on the behalf of some of the precious 
truths of God. The Lord led us forth to the field of 
battle ; and therefore I believe and hope that he will be 
with us, and appear for the cause of his own name, and 
that he will give us a mouth and wisdom which all our 
enemies shall not be able to withstand. O Lord pity 
the poor handful, and stand by them, and enable them 
to stand their ground, that they may not faint, when 
they see the strength of battle to be against them. 

The prayers and intercessions of the closet seem to 
have been generally accompanied with another highly 
pleasant and beneficial, though much neglected exercise 
— singing praises to God. — " August 8, 1722. This 
day I could not think there was the least spark of grace, 
or good in me or about me ; and I was thinking that I 
should never see the Lord any more. But O the tro- 
phies and triumphs of free grace ; for this night in fa- 
mily prayer the Lord did begin to loose my bonds, and 
both heart and tongue were loosed together, to my sur- 
prise ; and it was ordered in providence that, in my or- 
dinary in secret this night, I did sing Psalm cxxxvi. 
where twenty-six times it is repeated, 6 His grace and 
mercy never faileth ;' and O the repetition of this word 
at every other line was sweet. I began to hope that I 
shall sing it as a new song through eternity, that 6 His 
grace never faileth, his mercy endureth for ever.' And 
I think that none in heaven will have more occasion to 
raise their hallelujahs of praise to free grace than I have. 



150 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



O that the Lord may speak peace to me, so as I may 
never return to folly." 

Some specimens have been given above of his pious 
meditations on the portions of Scripture he perused in 
his study. The following entry is concluded with a 
strong expression of the delight which he experienced 
in these solemn meditations. — Sabbath, February 14, 
1714. I have got some sweet views of the Lord this 
night, having read the two last chapters of the Gospel 
of Mark. I saw that the blessed Jesus was dead and is 
alive, and lives for evermore ; and my very soul was re- 
freshed and rejoiced with the sight. In reading these 
chapters I got a view of his wisdom even in his silence 
before Pilate, and before the priests and elders, when 
accused of many high crimes. I saw that he was, out 
of love, content to be numbered with the transgressors. 
Although he could easily have vindicated himself, yet 
as he willingly became man, so he was willing to be 
held as the guilty person before men, that we might be 
held as righteous before God. But though he was si- 
lent when charged with these crimes, yet he witnessed 
a good confession ; for when challenged by the high- 
priest, whether he were the Christ, the Son of the 
Blessed, he openly told him that he was the Christ, and 
that they should see him one day coming in the glory 
of his Father ; and when challenged by Pilate — if he 
was the king of the Jews, he freely owned it, whereby 
he left his enemies without excuse, having by his mira- 
cles, which he wrought openly before all, and likewise by 
the purity of his doctrine, given to the world, and par- 
ticularly to the church, sufficient proofs and evidences 
that he was the Messiah. O the thoughts of these things 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 151 

were sweet to my soul. The whole of it was sweet in 
reading, and yet sweeter, after I had done reading, 
when I began to meditate on what I had read." 

Whilst it was his practice, after reading a chapter of 
the Bible, to spend some time in fixed and solemn me- 
ditation upon it, he was no stranger to those occasional 
reflexions which occur incidentally and often suddenly 
to the mind of a devout man. Of this we may give a 
single instance. — " August 6, about 12 of the day, 1715. 
My soul is rejoicing at the sight of the majesty of God 
which I see= I am persuaded that he is ; and Oh he is 
my chief, chief good. I see him in all his works, and 
wonder at his glory there. But O I shall wonder for 
ever at his taking on the nature of man. In his pre- 
sence is fulness of joy, and rivers of pleasure." 

He not only meditated on the glories of Immanuel 
and the joys of eternity, but often communed with his 
own heart, and strictly examined his daily conduct and 
spiritual state. With what diligence he searched, and 
with what contrition he deplored his sins and backslid- 
ings, appears from various extracts formerly given. 
Omitting many other examples equally striking, we go 
on to notice that, although his self-investigation led to 
very humble confession, yet in consequence of the ef- 
fects he was enabled to discern of the operation of di- 
vine grace on his heart and practice, it usually prepared 
the way for joyful assurance and lively gratitude. 
Hence he thus records his exercise on one occasion : 

" Saturday, March 5, 1715, at 12 noon. Studying 
my sermon for to-morrow, I was writing some marks of 
those who have sincere though weak grace; among 
which this was one, that their joy is placed especially on 
God in Christ, on the covenant, on things above ; they 



152 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



delight in prayer, in hearing, conference, and medita- 
tion on God and the things of God. I brought this 
mark particularly home to my own soul. And O my 
soul can appeal to the Lord, that there is nothing in all 
the world that ever I rejoiced in with such a solid, 
sweet, lasting, and overcoming joy, as in God, in Christ, 
in the covenant, in the blessed Bible. My soul re- 
joices only in the Lord ; he is my strength and shield ; 
he is my exceeding joy ; and when he hides his face, all 
things are, as it were, clothed with blackness, and I can 
see nothing desirable in them." 

On the day immediately following, being Sabbath, 
he was confirmed in this favourable conclusion regard- 
ing the state of his soul, by observing the harmony be- 
twixt the external revelation, and the internal discove- 
ries, of the character of God. 

" I came up to my closet," says he, " and having 
prayed twice, the second time, the Lord was pleased to 
give a discovery of himself. My soul adored and ad- 
mired his infinite greatness, and excellency, and his 
wonderful grace and condescension. I was made to 
bless him that ever made the day-spring from on high 
to arise on my heart, that ever made the light of the 
knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ, to shine in 
upon my heart. In the mean time, I was made to see a 
wonderful congruity and suitableness between the ex- 
ternal revelation he has made of himself in the word, 
and the internal discoveries that he makes of himself 
to the soul by his Holy Spirit ; which to me is at the 
same time a convincing evidence of the divinity of the 
Scriptures, and an evidence of the soundness and reality 
of his work upon my soul, and of the reality of those 
discoveries that he makes of himself to me. Do the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



153 



Scriptures speak of God honourably and loftily ; that 
he is infinitely powerful, infinitely wise, infinitely glo- 
rious, immense and incomprehensible, and infinitely 
condescending and gracious ? I see him when he ma- 
nifests himself, to be all this in an inexpressible way. 
Do the Scriptures speak of Christ as ' wonderful/ < the 
mystery of godliness,' 6 the brightness of the Father's 
glory,' < one with the Father,' < full of grace and truth,' 
6 all in all,' as having 6 the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge,' yea, 6 all the fulness of the Godhead dwell- 
ing in him,' as 6 able to save to the uttermost ?' When 
the vail is drawn aside, and when the spirit of the Lord 
testifies of him unto me, my soul sees him to be all this, 
and infinitely more than I can express or conceive. 
My soul adores him, and shall adore him for ever and 
ever. I see that 6 his goings forth are prepared as the 
morning ;' every discovery being sweeter and brighter 
than another. When he returns unto me and discovers 
himself, I think I see always more of his greatness and 
of his sweetness, glorious grace, and other perfections, 
than ever I saw before. I was made at this time also 
to see and say, that if the Lord should let out himself 
upon me in any great measure, it would utterly over- 
whelm me. The weak crazy vessel, I see, is not able 
to bear much ; and therefore I do entirely refer myself 
to the management of infinite wisdom, and I reckon 
that any measure of manifestation that he gives is best 
for me. He knows my frailty, and suits himself to me 
accordingly. But when I come to glory, the vessel 
shall be filled brim-full, and every new discovery he 
makes of himself to me now enlarges the vessel a de- 
gree more, that so I may be capable to hold the more, 
when I come into the ocean of glory above. Thanks 



154 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



be unto God for ever, for Christ his unspeakable gift ; 
for it is only through him as my blessed Surety and 
Advocate, that God smiles at any time upon me. If 
lie should look upon me as I am in myself, drowned in 
sin and guilt, he would even look me into hell, and cast 
me for ever out of his sight." 

This man of God, while he assiduously performed 
the various duties of the closet, discovered an equal at- 
tention in compassing the domestic altar. He well 
knew that the ancient and scriptural practice of family 
worship is calculated, by the divine blessing, to pro- 
mote the best interests at once of the head and all the 
members of the family. A few passages from his jour- 
nal, relating partly to this exercise, may suffice to bear 
testimony to every reader, of the alacrity with which he 
assembled his household, at least morning and evening, 
to celebrate the praises of God, to read his word, and to 
call on his name, and of the sincerity with which he 
could assure all that make inquiry respecting the utili- 
ty of such a service, that to him it proved a rich source 
of spiritual improvement and inexpressible delight. 

" Sabbath, October 30, 1708. I had been under a 
great deal of deadness all the day long ; but at night 
when I set about family worship, in the time of prayer 
the Lord gave me sweet enlargement. My mouth was 
filled with arguments in wrestling with him for heart- 
mollifying, sin-mortifying grace — grace to honour him, 
and to do him service." 

"January 11, 1712. This night, at family worship, 
I read the 2d chap, of Luke about the birth of Christ, 
and the manner of his being introduced into the world. 
The Lord was pleased to reveal himself to me in read- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



155 



ing. I was made to wonder at the meanness of his 
birth, and at his intimating it, not to Herod or the great 
Rabbies at Jerusalem, but to the poor shepherds that 
were in the field. O how sweet is it to see Christ lay- 
ing in the manger ; that blessed Morning-Star arising, as 
it were, out of the very dust. In prayer in the family 
after reading, I was as sweetly enlarged as ever I was 
in my life, to bless God for his unspeakable gift, and 
to cry to him to have Christ formed in my heart ; to 
have his glory advanced in the world ; and particularly 
for the church in this land, which has many enemies, 
who seem this day to be triumphing. But Christ lives, 
and he is set above all principalities and powers, and 
might and dominion ; and God hath given him to be 
Head over all things to the church, which is his body." 

" September 22, 1713, about 7 p.m. I have it to re- 
mark that this has been a good day to me. In the 
morning the day was dark ; but about 12 it began to 
dawn, and both in secret duty and in family worship at 
mid-day ) I found much of the Lord. O the sweetness 
of God's face, and of the light of his countenance. And 
now again I am just risen from private prayer, and O 
my soul was refreshed therein. I cannot put into words 
what I felt of the goodness of the Lord." 

In addition to what may be gathered from these ex- 
tracts, with regard to this clergyman's method of con- 
ducting domestic worship, we have only to state further, 
that remarkable domestic occurrences were not over- 
looked in those prayers and thanksgivings which he of- 
fered up in the midst of his family. The following in- 
stance of this devout attention to the agency of a kind 
Providence, deserves to be recorded : 

" Friday, May 28, 1714. A remarkable providence 



156 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



happened to my family, which should never be forgot- 
ten. Whilst the people were in the moss, casting peats, 
my wife and I being at home, my child, Ebenezer, was 
playing himself before the door, about half-way betwixt 
the moss and the house ; and before ever any of us were 
aware, a stirk or young cow runs a great way towards 
him, and goads him with her horns, to destroy him. I be- 
ing in my closet, saw the beast tossing him and lifting him 
with her horns from off the earth. I thought the child was 
gone, and his mother also thought the same. Yet hav- 
ing come to the child, we found him perfectly sound and 
whole, without the least scratch or hurt upon his body, 
which was a wonder to us all. The beast had fastened 
its horns on the white cap which was on the child's head, 
and torn it off ; and yet the child not at all hurt. O how 
much am I obliged to the good providence of God, for 
the preservation of the poor child, who was a long time 
tossed and tumbled to and fro by the beast before any 
one could win to help him. But the Lord helped, and 
therefore I this day set up my Ebenezer, for hither- 
to hath the Lord helped. I came home and returned 
God thanks for his kind providence, and did the same 
in family-worship also. O that the Lord may sanctify 
this providence to me, to awaken and excite me to my 
duty." 

Similar emotions of gratitude were stirred up by a 
providential escape, which was experienced by his 
daughter Jean, afterwards Mrs. Fisher. On Sept. 22, 
1714, when the girl was returning with her parents from 
Kirkaldy, as she rode near them before a servant on 
a small poney, the poney stumbled and fell, on the road 
between Kirkness and Portmoak, "so that both the 
child and the lad tumbled over/' as it is expressed, " at 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



157 



the ears of the beast ;" and yet neither of them sustained 
the least hurt. " I ascribe this/' says the pious and af- 
fectionate father, "to my great, glorious, and good 
God, who gives his angels charge over me and mine, 
to keep us in all our ways. On coming home, I set up 
my Ebenezer ; and again at family-worship last night, 
God gave me great freedom in devoting myself and my 
wife, my children and family, to the Lord. O it was a 
sweet season to me. I may say Jehovah- Shamma to 
my soul ; for the Lord was there." 

Whatever importance he justly attached to the reli- 
gious exercises of the closet and the family, he was fully 
aware of the special blessing annexed to the public in- 
stitutions of religion ; and the same conscientious and 
persevering diligence with which he improved the for- 
mer, appeared in his conduct with regard to the latter. 
Animated by the noblest motives in the discharge of 
his official duty, he was solicitous to promote the eter- 
nal welfare, both of his own soul, and the souls of his 
hearers. His preparations for appearing in the pul- 
pit, at home and abroad, whether on ordinary or on 
more solemn occasions, whatever time, and labour, and 
anxiety, they might cost, — were by no means allowed 
to preclude that habitual attention to his own spiritual 
improvement, which his character, as a Christian, re- 
quired. Whether the services of the sanctuary were 
conducted by himself or by his brethren, it was his un- 
feigned desire to profit by them ; and his narrative gives 
evidence that he was particularly careful to reap true 
and lasting benefit from the highly- valued opportuni- 
ties of administering and receiving the Lord's Supper. 
Nothing less can be inferred from the following entries : 



158 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" July 11, 1712, Saturday morning. I went to pray, 
and it pleased the Lord to give me some discoveries of 
Christ, when I was filled with desire of him, and was 
made to say, O Lord, I would desire nothing greater 
in the world, or through eternity, than to behold the 
wisdom of God manifested in Christ ; the justice of God, 
the holiness of God, the mercy and faithfulness of God, 
manifested in Christ. And I was made to pray that I 
might have a sight of his blessed face to-morrow in the 
breaking of bread at Orwell. Happy they that are 
singing his praises, and beholding his face in heaven, 
who was dead, and is alive for evermore. O I would 
think it a happy life, to live in him, to live upon him, 
to live by him, and to live to him, for ever." 

"Portmoak, Aug. 13, 1712, between 6 and 7, a.m. 
I did celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in 
this place, on the 3d day of this month. There was 
much of the Master's refreshing presence found there- 
in. I myself, it is true, found but very little of his pre- 
sence, either in preaching or communicating at that 
time ; though there are none I have conversed with, who 
heard me, that have any savour of religion, but they 
found very much of the Lord's presence in it : — where- 
by I see that the Spirit of the Lord is not confined to 
the minister's frames, and that he may be with the peo- 
ple, when he is absent from the minister. But though 
I did not feel much life at the time, I think I have got 
as much good from this communion, as ever I got from 
any ; for, almost ever since, I have had much more live- 
liness in duty than I had before. The remembrance of 
Christ has been fresh and savoury to me. I have been 
in some measure helped to carry about with me the 
dying love of the Lord Jesus. He has been exalted, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



159 



and set on high in my soul. I have been filled with 
adoring and admiring conceptions of him." 

To these extracts we may add his memorandums of 
the edification he received from the ministrations of 
three excellent clergymen, Messrs. Gibb, of Cleish, and 
Ure, of Fossaway, and his own brother, Ralph : 

" July 30, 1714. I have had many sweet discove- 
ries of the Lord's goodness to me since the last time 
that I have here marked. I remember that the Lord 
gave assistance to deliver his mind upon the commu- 
nion-day. Though in the time of the action,* I did not 
feel much sweetness, yet God gave me through-bearing 
grace ; and in the evening exercise by Mr. Gibb, I re- 
member that I got some sweet views of the wonderful 
Immanuel, which made my soul to acquiesce, and to re- 
joice in him." 

"July 13, 1715. Sabbath last I was at Dunfermline 
sacrament, assisting my brother. I found little of the 
Lord ; only I had some meltings of soul the Sabbath 
morning, in the time of my brother's prayer before the 
action. Yesterday, as I came home, my eyes were 
opened to see God — the infinite and invisible God, and 
the sight of him filled my soul with awe and dread, and 
a desire to have peace with him, more than any thing in 
all the world. The impressions continued with me a 
good part of the way, and also after I came home. O 
Lord, come with saving and soul-transforming disco- 
veries of thyself to my soul." 

" Monday, May — , 1721. In hearing Mr. Ure's 
sermon on Heb. xii. 2. 6 Looking unto Jesus/ the Lord 

* The action is an old Scotish designation for the sermon 
preached immediately before the administration of the Lord's 
Supper. 



160 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



was pleased to loose my bonds and melt my heart, by 
filling me with some longings of soul after him, who is 
* the desire of all nations.' My soul went along with 
what he said, when speaking of the attributes of Jesus, 
the offices of Jesus, the promises of Jesus, the fulness 
of Jesus, which he called us to look to. I bless the 
Lord, that refreshed my soul with his word in this ser- 
mon." 

Mr. Erskine was alive to the comfort and advantage 
arising from the private intercourse and epistolary cor- 
respondence, as well as from the public labours of his 
brethren. No sooner did he begin to feel deeply the 
importance of vital religion, and the value of evangeli- 
cal truth, than he gladly embraced opportunities of 
cultivating the friendship of those ministers, whom he 
respected for their piety and knowledge. The Rev. 
George Mair, of Culross, whose sincere godliness, ar* 
dent attachment to the doctrine of grace, and friendly 
dispositions, are honourably mentioned by Mr. Bos- 
ton,* seems to have commanded his peculiar venera- 
tion. The following letter, preserved in short hand-cha- 
racters, in one of his Note-books, shows how greatly he 
esteemed that worthy man, and with what alacrity he 
availed himself of his assistance in his religious inqui- 
ries. It affords, at the same time, a beautiful specimen 
of his general humility and docility of mind. 
" Copy of a letter written by me to Mr. Mair, 

Sept. 13, 1707. 

« Rev. Sir, 

I have had a design, for a considerable 
while back, to write you a letter, but was hindered 

* Memoirs, pp. 40, 47, 57. 1st. ed. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



161 



therefrom through want of time or occasion. It would, 
I am persuaded, be my great advantage to have cor- 
respondence with you, either by word or writ ; and I 
therefore would presume to be now and then troubling 
you with a line, if it would not be thought officious or 
impertinent. By this, however, I have adventured to 
break the ice. — I cannot but fully acknowledge, that 
ever since I had the honour to entertain you for a night 
in my cottage, and to enjoy a little conversation with 
you, I have had very savoury impressions of you ; and, 
if I be not deceived, more suitable impressions anent 
the freedom of the covenant of grace ; and although I 
bear the name (though most unworthy) of a master and 
teacher in Israel, yet I have need to be instructed even 
in the first principles of the oracles of God. And, 
therefore, I must entreat your thoughts more fully on 
that sweet subject ; in regard I conceive it to be the 
very hinge of practical holiness and religion ; and if a 
man be in the dark here, he cannot fail to stumble and 
fall. If it were not to be too much at once, I would 
also desire your thoughts upon this case. — When a per- 
son may be said to have closed with a promise ? or how 
shall a person know that he has closed with it ? I mean 
the absolute promise ; for, as to the conditional pro- 
mises, I scarcely think, at present, that ever I could lay 
claim to them as mine, in regard, I am in doubt if ever 
I truly closed with the first. 

I thank you heartily for Goodwin's Pamphlet you 
have sent me. I shall, God willing, peruse and return 
it. I design also, to see you at your own house, though 
I cannot prefix the time. Hoping, when your conve- 
nience allows, you will let me hear from you, and that 



162 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



you will bear me in mind when you go to the throne ; 
I rest, with my respects to your yoke-fellow, Rev. Sir, 
Your unworthy brother, and obliged servant.' - 

A proper opportunity of adverting to the endearing 
communications that took place betwixt him and some 
other clergymen, will afterwards occur. But whatever 
confidence he reposed in ministers of worth, he was not 
indifferent to that pious and familiar conference with 
private Christians, which appeared subservient to mu- 
tual instruction and comfort. We have seen his inge- 
nuous acknowledgments, respecting what he owed to his 
beloved wife, as, in a great degree, the means of his 
conversion. Her company and example, he was sen- 
sible, continued to afford him valuable aid, so long as 
it pleased providence to spare her ; and the recollection 
of them, even after her death, had a salutary influence 
on his feelings and conduct. 

His sister, Mrs. Balderston, was another experienced 
Christian, to whom he looked for counsel and encour- 
agement in the ways of piety. The Diary contains co- 
pies of several letters he wrote to her ; of which the 
following is the most important. It was written at that 
interesting period, when the revival of the law of pa- 
tronage, and the imposition of the oath of abjuration, 
excited most distressing apprehensions among all the 
true friends of the Scotish Presbyterian Church. 

" Portmoak, April 13, 1712. This morning I wrote 
the following letter to my sister, Mrs. Balder ston : 

" Dear Sister, 

I am longing very much to see you 
and my brother, and other friends in Edinburgh. At 
least I would wish to hear from them in these reeling 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



163 



and perplexing times, wherein a close correspondence, 
I think, should especially be maintained by prayer and 
otherwise, among all the true lovers of our Zion. The 
dragon seems this day to be casting out a flood of wrath 
and malice against the woman, and the remnant of her 
seed. All the power and policy of hell is set to work 
for the ruin and overthrow of the Church of Scotland. 
The prospect of the sifting storm that seems to be at 
hand, is like sometimes to stagger and shake me ; and 
makes my spirit to shrink within me. I know not how 
I shall be able to stand the storm itself, or how I shall 
do in the swellings of Jordan. Being as yet entirely 
unacquainted, as to my own experience, with sufferings 
for the truth and cause of Christ, I am afraid to say 
with Peter, 6 Though all men should forsake thee, yet 
will not I.' But this I may say, if he needs my pro- 
perty, my family, my very heart's blood, to bear wit- 
ness to his cause and work, I am obliged, though they 
were ten thousand times more valuable than they are, 
to lay them all down at his feet, and to follow him, 
though it were to a Golgotha, or a Calvary. I dare 
not say that I will do so, lest he let me feel my own 
weakness in a day of trial. But O I would fain re- 
member my own name Ebenezer, and hope that the 
Lord will be a help, and that he will be, and do, all for 
me in the evil day. I would gladly know what our mi- 
nisters are thinking or doing anent this Oath of Abju- 
ration, which is to be imposed on us ; although, through 
grace, I resolve not to make any man my standard, but 
my own light my rule in this matter. And, truly, as 
to any light I have as yet about it, I durst not adven- 
ture to take it, though I should be driven with my small 
family to beg my bread. I hear that the bill for restoi - 



164 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ing patronages is passed the House of Commons. What 
a bold stroke is thus given to the fundamental consti- 
tution of the Church of Scotland ! Every thing from 
men seems to say they design our ruin ; but, I hope, 
God hath said otherwise, and that he will turn it to 
good in the issue, to his church. — Remember me to my 
brother and George, and to my mother, when you see 
her. Remember me to Jean Rauvit and Barbara Ru- 
therford, not forgetting Janet [Pater son.] I would 
fain claim a share in your prayers and theirs, that the 
Lord may keep me honest to his cause, whatever it may 
cost. This in haste from 

Your affectionate brother." 

A few days after the elate of this excellent letter, he 
takes notice of the answers he received, and of their 
animating influence on his mind. 

" P. April 20, Sabbath. Before sermon, I received 
a letter from my mother, and another from my sister 
Balderston, in answer to that which I wrote, April 13th, 
which is recorded above ; — both very comforting and 
encouraging to me to stand to the cause and interest of 
Christ, cost what it will ; and both these letters are laid 
by in the shuttle for letters in my cabinet/'* — " This 
day," he adds, "I preached on these words, 2 Kings 
xix. 4. tf Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant 
that are left.' I preached on it with a view to the pri- 
vate Fast, appointed by the Synod, upon Tuesday next, to 
encourage and direct myself and flock in the exercises 
of that day. The Lord was pleased to help in speak- 
ing ; blessed be his name." 

* We regret that we have never seen either the originals, or 
copies of these two letters. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 165 



Besides his female relatives, there were several other 
pious women in Edinburgh, whose friendly converse 
was useful to him, while he, on his part, proved a helper 
of their joy. — Janet Pater son occupied a high place in 
his esteem. One of his letters to her contains these ex- 
pressions : 

"Dear Friend, 

The remembrance of you, especially 
since the last time I had occasion to converse with you 
in Edinburgh, has been most savoury to me. I have fre- 
quently been made to adore the riches of free grace to- 
wards you, and to pray that his grace towards you may 
abound more and more. As to myself, I dare not say 
that I am altogether a stranger to the comforts of the 
Holy Ghost. My dearest Redeemer is now and then 
giving me a passing visit. I am sometimes even swal- 
lowed up with wonder, that he should ever visit the like 
of me. O help me to praise him, that ever he should 
have remembered me with such distinguishing love. 
Forget me not, when it is your privilege to hold him in 
the galleries." 

In a subsequent entry, he states the following circum- 
stances : Having gone to assist the Rev. Mr. Grier, of 
the College Church, in administering the Lord's Supper, 
March 4, 1711, he lodged in the same house with this 
good woman, (being kindly entertained, very probably, 
under her own roof.) Finding him somewhat depressed 
in spirit on Sabbath morning, she reminded him of the 
promise, < The meek shall eat and be satisfied,' — adding, 
that these words had frequently been made sweet to her 
soul, on his account. Mr. Grier preached on that text, 
* My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink in- 
deed and the first words he read to be sung after ser- 



166 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



mon, were the same that Janet Paterson had suggested 
for his encouragement in the morning. This, he says, 
melted his heart, and called forth ardent wishes that the 
promise might be accomplished to his soul. 

Jean JRauvit, however, possessed, at least, an equal 
interest in his friendship. He says, accordingly : 

"P. March 13, 1711. While I was in Edinburgh 
last, on the Wednesday after the sacrament, Jean Rau- 
vit came to see me in my chamber ; and she and I en- 
tered on spiritual discourse. She told me that she had 
been made to have a very savoury remembrance of me 
several times, about this occasion of the sacrament, both 
before and after it. She told me what expressions of 
the Lord's love she has had, and what nearness she had 
been admitted to, at this sacrament. O what wonders 
of free grace and love has the Lord displayed towards 
her ! She is a person of more nearness to God than 
any that I know. How much of his image is discerni- 
ble in her ! What gravity and solidity ! Something 
of Christ in almost every word she speaks, and a sweet 
savour of heaven." 

Yet before the close of the same month, he received 
a letter, informing him that this highly valued person 
had become exceedingly disconsolate, and complained 
bitterly of the power of in-dwelling sin. " I was affect- 
ed," says he, ¥ when I heard it, and went to pray for 
her ; and this word was sweet to me on her behalf, f I 
will not leave you comfortless ; I will come unto you/ 
Her dejection seems to have continued a considerable 
time ; for we find the draught of a consolatory letter 
addressed to her by this sympathizing minister, more 
than six months after. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 167 

"P. Nov. 25, 1711. / wrote the following letter to 
Jean Rauvit: 

" Dear Friend in our Lord Jesus, 

" Considering the freedom you have sometimes used 
in communicating your mind to me, with respect to the 
Lord's dealings with us, and considering how refresh- 
ing I have found our conversation, and how the Lord 
has sometimes made you to bear me upon your heart 
before his throne, I cannot but accuse myself of ingra- 
titude, that I have not written to you before this ; and, 
to tell the truth, I could have no ease in my own mind, 
until I should write, whether it be to the purpose or 
not. Unless the Lord make the heart to indite a good 
matter, neither tongue nor hand can be as the pen of a 
ready writer. The Lord is my witness, that it is my 
desire to speak a word in season to you in particular, 
with whom I have, and am bound to have, a special 
sympathy. It touches my heart sometimes to the very 
quick, when I think on your case, as you expressed it 
to me the last time I was in company with you. O it 
is terrible and grievous to a loving child, to want his 
father's countenance ; or a loving wife, the countenance 
of her husband, especially such a father and husband 
as Christ is ; especially when the poor soul looks back 
to the happy time when it was made to ride in his cha- 
riot, embraced in his arms, and dandled on his knees. 
I know not if the case be the same with you now that 
it was then. I am at a loss what to say, for want of 
a more particular correspondence with you. Only I 
shall tell you this in general for good news, that He 
who was dead and is alive, and lives for evermore, and 
has the keys of hell and death, is 6 the same yesterday, 
to-day, and for ever ;' that though he change his car- 



168 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



riage, yet he doth not change his love. Yea, his love 
is as ardent, as tender now — rather more so — than 
when you were embraced in his arms. And besides, 
he who cannot lie hath said, that he ' will not contend 
for ever, neither will he be always wroth, lest the spirit 
should fail before him, and the soul which he hath 
made ;' which words were very refreshing lately to me 
on your behalf, as also those in Psalm ciii. 13, 14. I 
cannot enlarge at present ; only I entreat it as a favour, 
that you will let me have a line from you, showing me 
how it is with you, for I have a particular anxiety to 
hear from you. Remember me to your husband and 
dear babes. And I rest 

Your sympathising friend and servant in glorious 
Christ, E. E." 

" I got an answer to this letter," he adds, in an en- 
try dated Dec. 22, " wherein she told nie that what I 
had written was refreshing to her. However, she re- 
mained still under great hiding ; and she is many times 
made to doubt if it ever was so with a saint, as it is 
with her." 

Amongst the various means of spiritual advance- 
ment employed by this good minister of Christ, he did 
not omit a careful attention to the language of Provi- 
dence. He received with promptitude and humility, 
the serious lessons inculcated by the lapse of time, the 
course of events, the vicissitudes which occurred in his 
own lot, and in the condition of those around him, the 
signal or unexpected mercies bestowed, and the sharp 
afflictions that were mingled in his cup. That he was 
a wise observer of providential occurrences is manifest, 
in some degree, from the foregoing details ; and it will 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



169 



still more strikingly appear, when his personal and do- 
mestic trials fall to be noticed. Let it suffice, meantime, 
only to introduce two extracts from his Diary, which may 
serve as an example of the reflections in which he was 
prepared to indulge at the close of one year, and the 
commencement of another. The first is as follows : 

" P. Dec. 30, 1713. This morning I wakened from 
sleep a little before six o'clock. I endeavoured to turn 
my thoughts towards God, and the Lord was pleased 
to draw by the vail, and give me a glimpse of his glori- 
ous perfections. My heart sweetly thawed and warm- 
ed. I thirsted and longed for the Lord, and for the en- 
joyment of him in glory. I rejoiced to think that the 
time was hastening when this clay tabernacle would be 
broken, and my soul would mount up above the visible 
heavens, above the starry heavens, and come to the 
place where the blessed and glorious Immanuel is en- 
tered as my forerunner, and where my soul shall gaze 
on his glory, and the glory of his Father, with wonder 
and delight, through all eternity. I am disposed to 
think that this time is approaching, because the Lord is 
now and then filling me with such longings after it, and 
he will satisfy the longing soul ; and by these tastes, 
these grapes of Eschol, he is loosing and weaning my 
heart from this world, and preparing me for my journey 
through the dark valley of the shadow of death. Bless- 
ed be the Lord for his great kindness. In the time of 
this visit, my soul, I remember, was filled with wonder 
and delight, to think that the eternal Son of God had 
his eye upon me, and his heart upon me, when he died 
on the cross ; that God had his eye upon me from eter- 
nity, and that the Redeemer had his eye on me in par- 
ticular, when he rejoiced from eternity in the habitable 
parts of the earth, when his delights were with the sons 

i 



170 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of men ! O what songs of praise shall I have to sing, 
when I come to heaven ; and how sweetly will I sing 
them, when I get a well-tuned harp put into my hand, 
and shall sit down among the spirits of just men made 
perfect ! O pleasant work ! My soul longs for it, and 
the time is hastening. Blessed be the Lord." 

The second extract referred to, was written eight 
years after, a few months posterior to the death of his 
first wife. 

" Anno 1721, Jan. I, being Sabbath evening. This 
day I have been about my Master's work. I lectured 
on Canticles vi. from ver. 4th, 6 Thou art beautiful, O 
my love, as Tirza, comely as Jerusalem, and terrible as 
an army with banners.' I designed to have insisted on 
some of the verses following ; but this one verse took 
up the whole of the time. And what the Lord helped 
to say was sweet and savoury ; particularly in answer- 
ing these five questions from the latter part of the verse ; 
1st, Why the church of God is compared to an army ? 
2d, Who is the Captain-general of the army ? 3d, Who 
are the soldiers of the army, and wherein lies their ex- 
cellency ? 4th, What is the banner ; and why banners 
in the piurai ? 5th, What is it that makes the church of 
God terrible as an army with banners ? — After lecture 
I preached upon Isaiah xxvi. 19, particularly on the 
middle part of the verse, c Awake and sing ye that dwell 
in dust.' The doctrine I insisted on was, that the re- 
surrection of the saints will be a time of great joy and 
singing ; where I took occasion to handle these three 
questions : 1st, Who will be the singers at that day ? 
2d, What will be their songs ? 3d, After what manner 
will they sing ? — The Lord made what was delivered on 
these heads sweet. He helped to speak, and I hope he 
refreshed my own soul, and the souls of many of my 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 171 

hearers. In my first prayer, at the beginning of the 
work of the day, considering that it was the first day of 
the year, I took occasion to ask a new year's gift from 
the Lord ; and I hope and desire to believe he has gi- 
ven it, not only by the assistance he gave in public in 
delivering his message ; but this evening, when alone, I 
was beginning to turn a little melancholy at the thoughts 
of the want of a dear wife ; but Oh ! the Lord turned 
my heart and thoughts towards himself, and begat in 
me a desire and longing after himself, and the enjoyment 
of him in heaven ; so that I was made to conclude and 
say, I cannot think but my treasure is in heaven, since 
my heart is there ; for Christ himself, the faithful Wit- 
ness, says, that ' where the treasure is, there will the 
heart be also ;' and he is my witness, that my principal 
desire is in heaven. O whom have I in heaven but 
Him, and there is none in all the earth that I desire be- 
sides him. O the Lord be thanked for this new year's 
day, and new year's visit." 

" This same night," he adds, " January 1, about 10, 
I went about secret duty ; and O I got a view of Im- 
manuel God-man, in reading his word, John x. from 
verse 22d to the close. O he is mine and I am his. He 
is my light, my life, and my all. I love to live in him, 
and to die in him. I am going to sleep, and I desire 
to sleep in Jesus ; and when I die, I desire to die in 
Jesus ; and I believe and am persuaded that I shall be 
for ever with Jesus, because I cannot be without him, 
and he will not be without me. No, no ; he will bring 
me to himself, and I shall dwell in the house of the 
Lord for ever. This has been a pleasant new year's 
day to me. O let it be thus with me through the whole 
year. 



172 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Of the numerous expedients for promoting his own 
spiritual improvement, to which this godly minister re- 
sorted, the last we shall notice here is the writing of a 
Diary. This is a practice which it w r ould be obvious- 
ly wrong to inculcate strenuously on all Christians. 
Thousands have not the education or capacity which 
it requires. Many to whom it might not be otherwise 
impracticable, are so situated in providence, that they 
cannot command the necessary leisure. In some in- 
stances it has been performed in so unguarded a man- 
ner, or such injudicious uses have been made of the re- 
cord by surviving relatives or friends, that among all 
who felt an interest either in the posthumous reputation 
of the parties, or in the advancement of practical reli- 
gion, it has excited only sentiments of sincere regret. 
Owing to the profound treachery and depravity of the 
human heart, the keeping of a diary, it has been alleged, 
has sometimes manifestly originated in a legal or in an 
ostentatious temper, and has merely supplied fuel for 
spiritual pride. The idea that the record will sooner 
or later meet the eyes of men, and recommend the 
writer to their esteem and admiration as a person of 
eminent piety, is apt at least to mingle itself with purer 
views, and even unconsciously to exercise a considera- 
ble influence on the statements made, and the expres- 
sions employed. These and similar considerations 
have determined some of the most excellent ministers 
and private Christians to forbear the practice in ques- 
tion. With whatever vigilance they may have in- 
wardly regarded the Lord's procedure towards them, 
and the varied workings of their own hearts, and with 
whatever zeal and activity they have aspired after pro- 
ficiency in the divine life, it has been their decided pur- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



173 



pose to record little or nothing on such subjects. Others, 
after writing a diary for years, have committed the 
whole, or the greater part of it, to the flames. In 
some cases, good men, on the verge of eternity, have 
been induced by a sense of duty, or by the importunity 
of friends, to prepare a succinct narrative of their life 
and experience, for the satisfaction and benefit of a 
private circle, if not for the advantage of the religious 
public. 

The published journals of some exemplary Christians, 
it must be admitted, have been so judiciously written, 
and have proved so highly useful for the direction and 
encouragement of others in the service of God, that it is 
cause of lively gratitude to the author of all good, that 
ever they existed, and that they were ever given to the 
world. Who will say that it is wrong in any Christ- 
ian, possessing the requisite ability and leisure, pro- 
vided he observe the dictates of modesty and prudence 
in his manner of proceeding, and strive, in dependence 
on divine grace, to be actuated only by pious and ho- 
nourable motives, — to record from time to time a few 
notices of what is most material in his own experience ? 
The review of such memorandums, after months and 
years have passed away, may call to his recollection 
facts in his history, important to himself, which, without 
such help, he would have utterly forgotten ; and may 
serve not only to awaken fresh sentiments of humility 
and gratitude, but to incite- to renewed ardour and cir- 
cumspection in the path of righteousness. 

To ministers of the Gospel, whose official character 
obliges them to bestow much attention on the spiritual 
interests of others, the keeping of a diary has been re- 
commended as an excellent means of preventing them 



174 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



from overlooking their own. In some circumstances, 
too, without question, it is particularly natural for 
them to adopt this expedient. After the momentous 
change of views and feelings undergone by the minister 
of Portmoak, it is not wonderful that he thought of 
writing the manuscript to which he gives the title of 

MY OWN EXPERIENCES OF THE LORD'S DEALINGS. 

It is possible, however, that he had recourse to this 
measure, in consequence of the suggestion of a friend. 
It is stated by Mr. Boston, that for the space of fourteen 
months in 1698-9, he kept a large diary, " moved 
thereto by converse with Mr. Mair."* The same 
pious minister may very probably have recommended 
this exercise also to Ebenezer Erskine, whose confiden- 
tial intercourse with Mr. Mair, formerly adverted to, 
commenced some time before the date of the first entry 
in the diary. From some expressions which occur in 
this record of his experience, it appears that he was in- 
duced to write it by a wish to preserve in his own bo- 
som a grateful remembrance of what God had done for 
his soul, and to animate himself to increased vigi- 
lance and activity in the prosecution of the Christian 
race. In all probability it was intended to be strictly 
private. Possibly he never thought even of its falling 
under the eye of any relative or friend. With the ex- 
ception of an occasional word or two, it is written en- 
tirely in short-hand characters, according to a rude and 
antiquated system of stenography, and these very closely 
put together. The whole is comprised in fifty-three 
large pages. 

With regard to the time and manner of keeping 



* 3Iemoirs, p. 45. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 175 

this record, he seems to have neither formed nor ob- 
served any fixed plan. It extends from November 22d 
1707 to 1728, or rather to 1722; since after that year 
there are but few entries, — for each of the years 1726, 

1727, 1728 only a few lines, — for 1725 not one syllable. 
Even at those periods during which he attended most 
unremittingly to this register, he did not write in it 
every day, or every week, or even every month. The 
details present a great diversity in this respect, corres- 
ponding to the degree of his leisure, or rather to the 
excitement he felt, and to the interesting nature of the 
events in which he was concerned. Owing, for exam- 
ple, to the numerous afflictions and bereavements which 
occurred in his family during the years 1713, 1714, and 
1720, what he wrote in the course of these three years 
amounts to somewhat more than one half of the whole 
manuscript. 

That he never resumed the writing of a diary after 

1728, though to us not absolutely certain, appears 
highly probable. In the volume containing the record 
of which we have just given an account, the last entry 
for 1728 is succeeded by a number of blank pages ; and 
amongst the numerous other note-books of his we have 
seen, no decisive trace of its renewal can be discovered. 
For what reasons he discontinued this private narrative, 
it is unnecessary largely to inquire. Neither candour 
nor justice will ever allege that it was owing to the de- 
cay of vital religion in his heart. His subsequent his- 
tory, whatever faults or imperfections may be discover- 
able in it, gave evidence that both in a private and in a 
public capacity, he continued, on the whole, to shine 
with growing lustre, and to go forward with increasing 
strength, till at last his earthly career was brought to a 



176 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



most happy and triumphant termination. Many dis- 
tinguished followers of Christ, after keeping a journal 
of their experiences for a number of years, have found 
it necessary to abridge the labour, or entirely to relin- 
quish the work. The extent to which their diaries 
have swelled, and the consequent difficulty of consult- 
ing them with profit, have deterred them from adding 
to their bulk ; or other avocations, occurring to occupy 
their time, have caused them to desist. Mr. Erskine, 
in the latter part of his life and ministry, had a multi- 
tude of active duties to employ his time and attention. 
Nor must it be omitted, that though for some years after 
he became acquainted with the power of the truth, he 
appears, as we have formerly stated, to have attached 
an undue weight to his varying frames and feelings, 
he ultimately saw it to be at once his duty and his inte- 
rest to pore less on the fluctuations of his own experi- 
ence, and to fix his mind more directly and steadily on 
the great truths and promises exhibited to him in the 
Gospel. This is expressly mentioned by himself as in 
part the reason of omitting to record his experiences as 
he had formerly done ; while he humbly takes shame to 
himself for not sufficiently regarding and improving the 
Lord's dispensations. " I have entirely omitted," says 
he, June 21, 1726, " to write any thing that happened 
to me almost these two years and a half, although 
much of the Lord's goodness I might have marked, if 
I had duly observed either his works of providence to- 
wards me and mine, or his operations of grace in me. 
Only in general, I think, the Lord has for some time 
been teaching me to live rather by faith than by sense, 
though sense has not been altogether wanting. Many, 
many sweet views of the Lord Jesus has he granted 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



177 



me ; many down-castings and many upliftings, which I 
have forgot." 

How far he did right either in commencing and keep- 
ing up for a time, or in at last breaking off his journal ; 
in what degree the record may have answered valuable 
purposes in his own experience ; and what advantages 
are likely to arise to others from this publication of 
many of its most interesting passages — it is now left to 
the judgment of the candid and intelligent reader to de- 
cide. Every minister, and every Christian, must also 
judge for himself, whether or not it becomes him in 
duty, or as a matter of expedience, to imitate this and 
other individuals, who, to a greater or less extent, have, 
by their example, countenanced the practice of faith- 
fully recording, as in the presence of God, their religi- 
ous exercises and enjoyments, defects and attainments. 
With respect to this, as well as many other points, in 
which different sentiments and modes prevail among 
truly good men, the apostolic rule should be strictly 
observed — " Let not him that eateth despise him that 
eatethnot; and let not him who eateth not judge him 
that eateth, for God hath received him. — Let every 
man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Rom. xiv. 
3, 5. 



178 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER IV. 

Active discharge of the pastoral office — Preparation for the pulpit— 
Subjects of discourse — Utterance — Frequent preaching — Cate- 
chising — Visitation of families — Attention to the sick — Instruc* 
Hon of the young — Praying societies — Various advantages at 
Portmoak — Success of Mr. Erskine's ministry at home and 
abroad — Correspondents. 

Genuine principle, deeply rooted in the heart, cannot 
fail to govern the practice ; and the real Christian, 
whatever be his appointed sphere, is justly expected to 
diffuse around him a salutary influence. The strong 
and fervid language in which the subject of this memoir 
expresses his devotional feelings, in the private record 
of his religious experience, was amply justified by the 
whole tenor of his conduct ; and the detail of his labours 
in the ministry will show that he discharged this sacred 
office with a corresponding fidelity and ardour. We 
make this remark in reference to his manner of con- 
ducting himself, subsequently to the happy revolution 
which took place in his sentiments and feelings. 

Even prior to that event, he appears to have been 
generally regarded as a pious and faithful clergyman. 
Certainly, however, there must have been then a lack 
of holy activity and zeal ; and his discourses were con- 
fessedly deficient in evangelical light and savour. Al- 
though, as his earliest note-books demonstrate, he by 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



179 



no means avoided texts that relate immediately to the 
distinguishing tenets of Scripture, he seems to have 
presented to his hearers a confused 6 ' mixture of legal 
and evangelical doctrine," not uncommon among the 
clergy of that age.* But the blessed change he expe- 
rienced in his soul produced the most desirable effects 
on his studies, his preaching, and every part of his mi- 
nistry. 

His reading was chiefly theological. Turretine, Wit- 
sius, Dr. Owen, Bishop Beveridge, Charnock, and Fla- 
vel, were among the number of his favourite authors. 
We have seen, however, that he perused the Book of 
God with peculiar and unceasing delight, and drew co- 
pious supplies directly from this pure and inexhaustible 
fountain. In his preparations for the pulpit, he exer- 
cised indefatigable diligence ; but his studies were sanc- 
tified and sweetened by meditation and prayer. The 
toil of writing and of committing to memory was inter- 
mitted, and succeeded, by short ejaculations, or solemn 
addresses to the throne of grace. The evening of Sa- 
turday, in particular, found him thus exercised. Let 
us hear what is noted on this point. 

" Dec. 26, 1713, betwixt 4 and 5, p. m. being Satur- 
day. After I had ended the writing of my sermon, and 
read it once over, I went to prayer to beg the Lord's 
help and assistance in all, and in the several parts, of 
my studies ; and I found my soul drawn out to the Lord, 
choosing him as my alone portion and heritage. I 
thought my soul grounded itself anew upon the satis- 
faction and mediation of the glorious and ever-blessed 



* Brown's Gospel- Truth, p. 83. 1st ed. 



180 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Redeemer. Here do I rest ; here do I venture my soul 
for time and eternity." 

"June 12, 1714, being Saturday, at 11 of the night. 
I had a sweet visit this night in secret prayer. I found 
the Lord sensibly with me, enlarging and drawing out 
my soul to himself. I saw him as a God incarnate, ma- 
nifested in my own nature. I found my soul closing 
with him. I could say, My God is become bone of my 
bone, and flesh of my flesh ; my God is my elder brother, 
my husband, and Redeemer. O I saw his valuable 
blood. I saw him dying on a cross and obeying the 
law ; and so rolled my soul on this blessed foundation. 

that I may be helped to commend him, and to win 
souls to his obedience to-morrow ! And O that for 
this purpose he may be a tongue and a mouth unto me, 
and give me the tongue of the learned.' ' 

His desire and resolution to make the blessed Re- 
deemer, in his person, offices, righteousness and grace, 
the grand theme of his discourses, are often expressed 
in emphatical and interesting terms. 

"Feb. 5, 1717. The Lord was pleased to give me 
a visit, after much darkness and guilt had been surround- 
ing me. I saw all wrong in myself ; but glory to God, 

1 see all right in the Surety. I see that he is all in ail, 
and that there is no relief for a poor soul but only in 
Christ. Oh I see that he is the marroiv of all religion, 
and that a whole eternity shall be spent by the redeem- 
ed in singing his praises that loved us, and gave him- 
self for us. A glimpse of him, I find, is like life from 
the dead. O that I were enabled to retain this lively 
sense of his love and grace, when I go about my minis- 
terial work. It would help to commend him to souls." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



181 



"Dec. 19, 1717. This night, in secret prayer, I got 
a sweet view of Christ as the up-making all of my soul. 
I was made to cry out, Lord, I am well-pleased with 
him in whom thy soul delighteth ; and to cry, O Lord, 
I bless thee that ever made him precious to my soul. 
Once I was without Christ, knew not his excellence, 
and saw no form nor comeliness in him, why he 
should be desired ; but now he is to me the chief among 
ten thousand, and altogether lovely. He is the very 
darling of my heart. I see him to be 6 the end of the 
law,' and the all of the Gospel ; and I would be content 
to have the clay tabernacle dissolved, that I might be 
for ever with him. O that while I am in this world, I 
may be made useful to proclaim his excellency and 
glory to others. This is the great desire and ambition 
of my soul, and that which I desire to aim and level at 
in all my ministerial work — to commend Him to im- 
mortal souls." 

While he took heart-felt pleasure in preparing and 
delivering evangelical discourses, he was truly and hum- 
bly grateful for every token of the divine presence, aid, 
and blessing. 

" June 26, 1717. I have been in a weary condition 
this long time past. My hope and strength were quite 
perished, and every thing good has been out of my sight. 
But I have been some better since Kinglassie sacrament, 
Sabbath was eight days ; and two or three days ago I was 
a little revived with the words of the angel to the shep- 
herds, 6 1 bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people ; For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.' 
This text of Scripture I fixed upon on Monday last, as 
the subject I would preach upon Sabbath next at Largo 



182 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



sacrament, and O I have found it sweet ; I have got 
some heart-lightening views of the Lord Jesus in stu- 
dying this subject, particularly this same day, being 
Wednesday. While I was writing, the Lord was pleased 
to give such a view of Christ as made my heart to melt, 
and tears of joy to break in mine eyes, and my hand to 
hold still, and my tongue to praise. Glory to the Lord 
for this visit. I hope it is an earnest of more, and that 
he will be with me in proclaiming the glad news of a 
Saviour to his people at Largo, Sabbath next. Amen." 

" Nov. 24, 1720, being a fast-day. I bless the Lord 
who aided me in the work of this day, notwithstanding of 
bodily indisposition, and disappointment as to assist- 
ance, which I was expecting from three several quarters. 
The Lord helped to speak and deliver his message with 
some measure of liberty from Hos. iv. 1, 2. It is the 
desire of my soul, not to please men, but to please God, 
my blessed Master, whom I desire to serve with my 
spirit in the Gospel of his Son." 

To these passages from the Diary may be added an 
extract of a letter written at Kirkaldy, addressed to a 
Christian friend, and expressing similar sentiments of 
gratitude to his divine Master. We have found a copy 
of the letter in a Note-book, begun about the year 
1723. 

" I came to this place on Wednesday, in order to at- 
tend the Presbytery, and thought to have returned yes- 
terday with Mr. Currie ; but friends here, particularly 
Mrs. Kay, Mrs. Sibbald, and others, constrained me 
to stay this last night, in order to give them an exhor- 
tation ; which, accordingly, I did, yesternight, to a good- 
ly company. And though it was against my inclination 
that I stayed, yet I find that my staying has been of the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, 



183 



Lord ; for I find some souls were edified and comforted. 
And O I think it but a small thing for men to spend 
their lungs in the cause of souls, for which Christ spent 
the blood of his heart. I think it is my desire, in every 
place where providence casts me, to send forth the sa- 
vour of that name, which is as ointment poured forth ; 
and I look on it as my crown, my glory, and my joy, 
when he helps me, in any measure, to commend him 
unto souls. Oh pray for me, that I may be honoured 
and helped to make his praise glorious ; for it is the 
greatest credit ever a poor creature came to, to be a 
trumpet to send forth the joyful sound of life, liberty, 
and salvation, through him." 

Though, with the Apostle Paul, he determined to 
know nothing amongst his hearers, save Jesus Christ, 
and him crucified, he justly considered this determina- 
tion as involving a firm purpose to explain and enforce 
that holiness of heart and life, which flows from faith 
in the cross ; and to reprove those works of darkness, 
which it is the design of the Gospel to destroy. We 
learn, accordingly, from his Note-books, that he de- 
livered a series of discourses on the Shorter Catechism, 
including an exposition of the ten commandments. How 
deeply he felt his obligation to bear a faithful testimony 
against sin in all its forms, and how sincerely he deplor- 
ed every appearance of remissness on his own part, in 
giving necessary warning and reproof to transgressors, 
is manifest from the two following entries ; the one 
of which relates to the irreverent use of God's name, 
and the other to the profanation of the Sabbath. 

" Monday ) Jan, 29, 1712. I remember there was a 
thought which occurred to me yesterday, anent zeal in 
a minister of the Gospel in reproving sin, and it was 



184 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



this : A minister is the ambassador of the Lord Christ, 
the Prince of peace, and the Prince of the kings of the 
earth. If the ambassador of an earthly prince or po- 
tentate should hear or see any indignity spoken or done 
against his master's interest, whose commission he bears, 
would he not resent it ? If he did not, he were unwor- 
thy of his trust ; and if his master should hear of it, he 
would surely punish him, and never commit such a trust 
to him again. Now, every sin is an affront offered to 
the Lord Christ ; it is an indignity offered to the crown 
of heaven, — particularly, swearing by the name of God, 
or a slight using of his name, in common discourse. 
And shall his ambassadors be silent when they hear 
their Master affronted ? Shall they be so dastardly- 
spirited, so cowardly, as not to espouse their Master's 
cause and quarrel ? Shall they sit silent, when they 
hear his glorious name abused and profaned by the 
black mouths of graceless sinners ? O Lord, I am a 
poor faint-hearted creature ; inspire me- with courage 
and boldness for thee, lest I deny thee by silence before 
men, and thou shouldst deny me before thy Father, and 
before the holy angels." 

"Friday, Feb. 25, 1715. Just now, sitting in my 
closet, it pleased the Lord to give me a sharp challenge 
for my silence in not leaving a testimony against the 
profanation of God's day, which happened some while 

ago in house, by the master of , and the laird 

of , by drinking there till after the time of divine 

worship in the forenoon. I remember I spoke of it to 

. himself, and challenged him anent keeping an 

open house in the time of public worship on the Lord's 
day, and told him of the great scandal which it had oc- 
casioned through the country. But my heart smote 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 185 

me, that seeing the thing had occasioned a public of- 
fence, I had not given a public testimony against it ; 
and, therefore, I resolve, if the Lord will, the next time 
that I preach in public in my own congregation, (for I 
am next Sabbath to preach at Leslie,) to enter upon it, 
having a fair occasion to introduce it, by the reading 
of the King's Proclamation against Profanity. The 
Lord help me to manage my work with zeal and pru- 
dence ; and, Lord, forgive me for my slackness in re- 
proving sin." 

In another part of his Diary, he complains of his 
" natural faintness and pusillanimity." But whatever 
constitutional timidity and self-diffidence he may have 
felt, and whatever cause he once had to accuse himself 
of a criminal fear of man, he was ultimately enabled, 
both in the public and private duties of his office, to 
discover an uncommon fidelity and boldness in plead- 
ing the cause of God and truth. Shortly after his heart 
received its first powerful impressions of evangelical 
and vital religion, his hearers observed, with pleasure, 
a very great improvement even in his manner of pro- 
nouncing his discourses. Formerly, he was subject to 
considerable embarrassment in public speaking, and 
found himself apt to lose the command of his ideas, un- 
less he kept his eyes steadily fixed on a particular stone 
of the wall opposite to the pulpit ; but now he spoke 
with the calm composure and unfettered energy becom- 
ing an ambassador of Christ ; was fully master of his 
mind and voice ; looked round on his audience with a 
dignified, yet sweet and engaging aspect, and com- 
manded a deep and universal attention.* That fervent 



* Portmoak MS. 



186 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



love to the Saviour, which now glowed in his heart, 
repressed the power of unmanly cowardice, and inspired 
him with a new and most impressive eloquence. One 
of his manuscripts contains the following Latin distich, 
which he probably recorded, as applicable to the mingled 
feelings of which he was conscious, — being " held back 
by fear, yet urged on by love." 

Dat milii frsena timor, 
Dat milii calcar amor. 

It was usual for the Scotish clergy of that age to de- 
liver, at least in the summer season, a lecture and a ser- 
mon in the forenoon, with another sermon in the after- 
noon. In addition to these services, Mr. Erskine, agree- 
ably to the practice of many of his brethren, established 
a weekly lecture on the Thursday. 

For some time after his ordination, the Lord's Supper 
was but rarely administered — only thrice in the space of 
seven years. Owing to a variety of causes, similar infre- 
quency in the observance of this solemn institution was 
very common in Scotland, particularly in country pa- 
rishes, in those days. Subsequently, however, he ap- 
pears to have adopted the practice of its annual cele- 
bration. The lively interest he felt in this ordinance, 
whether he took part in its services at Portmoak or 
elsewhere, was formerly shown from his own memoran- 
dums. 

Days set apart for public Thanksgiving and Fasting 
were devoutly observed. In an entry, dated Aug. 26, 
1708, he briefly alludes to a day of Thanksgiving. Af- 
ter recording the impressions he then felt of the deceit- 
fulness and the destructive tendency of sin, and of the 
Saviour's excellence, he adds, " When I awoke the next 



THE REV. EJBENEZER ERSKINE. 187 

morning, being a Thanksgiving, the first text that oc- 
curred to me was, 6 O my soul, thou hast said unto the 
Lord, Thou art my Lord.' " 

To Fasts appointed by royal authority, and by the 
Synod of Fife, he makes repeated allusions. A passage 
formerly quoted from his Diary refers to a private Fast 
appointed by the Synod in April 1712, when the law 
of patronage was revived. The government having or- 
dained a Fast to be held on March 29, 1710, that 
prayers might be offered up for success to the arms of 
her majesty Queen Anne and her allies, his Presbytery 
called on the congregations under their inspection to 
observe that appointment ; and to mourn over the sins 
of the land, which had procured spiritual plagues, as 
well as the calamities of war, the decay of trade, and 
the dearth of provisions. On this national Fast, he 
preached at Portmoak from Jer. iv. 14. " O Jerusalem, 
wash thine heart from wickedness." On a Synodical 
Fast, Feb. 24, 1714, we find him giving evidence, by 
the exercises of the closet in the evening, of the since- 
rity with which he concurred with others in acts of self- 
abasement and penitence ; lamenting the dulness of his 
frame in conducting the public worship ; yet refreshed 
with the consolations prepared for mourners in Zion. 

While he served God with zeal and alacrity in the 
various ministrations of the pulpit, both stated and oc- 
casional, he was equally attentive to other pastoral du- 
ties ; as public catechising, ministerial visitation of fa- 
milies, and visiting the sick.* 

* See Notices of a Presbyterial Visitation of the Parish in 1710. 
App. No, VI. 



188 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Catechising is an exercise particularly urged in the 
formularies of the Church of Scotland ; and the days 
have been when a great proportion of her clergy faith- 
fully performed it. When rightly conducted, it is, per- 
haps, of all ministerial labours, the most instructive ; 
and whether the general neglect of it in the establish- 
ment, and the desuetude into which it seems to be ra- 
pidly falling amongst the dissenters, be owing chiefly to 
the remissness of the ministers, or to the indifference 
and fastidiousness of the people, the abandonment or 
decay of this ancient Presbyterian practice is much to 
be regretted. The man of piety and influence, who 
shall, with effective wisdom and energy, set his hand to 
the revival of this excellent and useful institution, will 
do an important service to Zion, and receive the cor- 
dial thanks of her genuine friends. — This good minister 
of Portmoak, when holding diets of catechising, often 
conversed with his people on what they had heard on 
Sabbath, that the truths delivered might, by means of 
familiar repetition, make the more lasting impressions 
on their memories and hearts. To awaken and rivet 
the attention of the whole congregation on the Lord's 
day, he sometimes would intimate at the beginning of 
his sermon, that he intended to examine on the subject 
of it, that same week ; but deferred specifying the par- 
ticular quarter where the diet of examination was to 
take place, till the congregation were about to be dis- 
missed.* 

In the visitation of families he discovered much 
gravity and dignity, mingled with ardent love to the 
souls of his people. His general demeanour, though 



* Portmoak MS. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 189 

prudent and becoming, was by no means forbidding and 
austere. On the contrary, when walking for necessary 
recreation through the bounds of his parish, he often 
made short friendly calls at the houses of his parish- 
ioners; expressed his happiness at finding them well ; 
partook, without ceremony, of a homely repast ; and re- 
commended religion by his lively and entertaining, as 
well as instructive conversation. But when he made 
a ministerial visit, he deemed it right to lay aside, 
in some degree, his usual vivacity, and to guard 
against those innocent pleasantries in which at other 
times he was apt to indulge. Assuming all that so- 
lemnity of appearance and deportment which charac- 
terized him on the most sacred occasions, he generally 
introduced himself with the words that our Lord di- 
rected his disciples to use when they entered any ha- 
bitation, " Peace be to this house." He commonly 
proposed a few practical questions to each adult, then 
examined and encouraged the children, and after an 
appropriate word of exhortation, concluded with a very 
particular and affectionate prayer.* 

It appears from his diary that, in the morning of a 
day of visitation, he was accustomed solemnly to im- 
plore the divine assistance in the work ; and that when 
favoured with " the opening of the lips" in this private 
exercise, he was no less grateful to his Master than af- 
ter he had experienced his gracious aid in the most 
public ministrations. 

" Wednesday. January 19, 1708. I was made to 
plead the piomise that he would, by the spirit of truth, 
lead me into all truth, and that he would go along with 

* Portmoak MS. 



190 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



me this day, and help me to a faithful discharge of that 
part of ministerial work that I was going about in the 
ground of Arnot, namely, visiting ; that he would help 
me to a solid impression of God upon my spirit, and of 
the great worth of precious souls, and direct me to 
speak a word suitable to the case of the people." 

" Tuesday, November 2> 1714. I have been abroad 
all this day visiting my congregation. Blessed be his 
name that gave me assistance. After I returned 
home, and also by the way, I got some soul-humbling, 
soul-refreshing views of the majesty of the Lord in the 
works of creation. When I beheld such a glorious and 
beautiful fabric as the heavens and the luminaries there- 
of, I could not but admire the Maker. My soul ac- 
quiesced in him as a complete and every way adequate 
portion to my rational soul. And O I could not but 
adore his condescension in taking on the nature of 
man ." 

Visiting the sick was another exercise in which he 
discovered the same diligence, wisdom, and affection. 
He stood prepared alike to sound a necessary alarm in 
the ears of the thoughtless sinner overtaken by affliction, 
and to speak words in season for the consolation of the 
dejected Christian. The following anecdote has been 
considered worthy of remembrance. When visiting 
Ann Meiglo, a poor but godly woman, she thus ad- 
dressed him : " O Sir, I am just lying here, a poor use- 
less creature." " Think you so ?" was his reply. " I 
think," added she, " what is true, Sir, that if I were 
away to heaven, I would be of some use to glorify God 
without sin." " Indeed Ann," the good man kindly 
answered, " I think you are glorifying God here by 
your resignation and submission to his will, and that in 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



191 



the face of many difficulties, and under many distresses. 
In heaven the saints have not your burdens to groan un- 
der : your praise, burdened as you are, is more won- 
derful to me, and, I hope, acceptable to God/'* 

In this interesting branch of pastoral duty he often 
experienced a sensible enlargement of heart, which 
supplied new ground of thankfulness and praise. 

" January 26, 1715, between 7 and 8 p.m. This 
day I have been abroad visiting the sick, and have sur- 
rounded the Loch [Leven], I bless the Lord who has 
preserved me from fatal accidents, which might have 
carried me into eternity, and that I have found my ha- 
bitation in peace. I cannot say that I have had much 
of his sensible presence this day — only some faint 
glimpses of the Lord, as it were, through a thick vail. 
But I am persuaded he is not far off ; for I have found, 
for the most part of the day, as I was travelling alone, 
and especially at this present time, I find a breathing 
and languor of soul after Christ." 

" April 24, 1722. This day, when I was visiting a 
sick man in Broombrae, Alexander Glass, the Lord 
was pleased, in my converse with this man, to loose my 
heart and my tongue together, and to enable me to 
speak to the commendation of Christ, and to open up 
the way of salvation to the poor man. My tongue was 
like the pen of a ready writer, when I spoke of the 
things touching the King, in so much that I said to the 
poor man ; 6 Alexander, I do not know what may be in 
it, but the Lord has helped me to speak to you with 
liberty and freedom of soul ; I wish that the Lord may 
make use of these words he has directed me to speak, 



Brown's Gospel-Truth, p. 46. 



192 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and lay them home to your soul.' I had liberty also in 
praying with the poor man 

Aware of the vast importance of early impressions, he 
was at great pains in promoting fhe spiritual welfare of 
the young. Not satisfied with addressing them parti- 
cularly in the houses of their parents in the usual course 
of visitation, he superintended their education in the 
parish school. The parochial schools of Scotland, so 
highly and so justly celebrated for their salutary ten- 
dency and extensive usefulness, were originally intend- 
ed to be seminaries, no less of religious instruction, 
than of the first principles of learning. Besides the 
daily reading of the Scriptures, and repetition of ques- 
tions of the Catechism, it was the common practice 
with the teachers — and we hope the custom is still in 
some degree kept up — to devote a great proportion of 
the time on Saturday, to examination and exhortation, 
on topics of religion and morality. In such exercises 
the teachers generally received, less or more, the coun- 
tenance and aid of the minister. Mr. Erskine, accord- 
ingly, very often visited the school of Portmoak on the 
Saturday, and after examining the scholars, exhorted 
and prayed with them. Sometimes, instead of going to 
the school, he invited the children to come to him in 
the manse, to which they repaired with uncommon 
alacrity ; knowing that their minister never treated 
them with greater kindness, nor recommended the 
paths of wisdom to their choice in more endearing and 
animating terms, than when he met them in his own 
house. 

Another means which he employed for promoting vi- 
tal religion in his parish, was the establishment of 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



193 



Praying Societies. Such institutions, it is allowed, 
have in some instances, owing to the operation of a li- 
tigious and censorious spirit, become a hinderance ra- 
ther than a help to genuine piety. Thousands, how- 
ever, can from happy experience attest, that, when pro- 
perly conducted, they are signally conducive to spirit- 
ual improvement. A pious and prudent minister may 
do much to secure the utility of these Societies, and to 
obviate the abuses to which they are liable. Mr. Er- 
skine considered it his duty to give them his counte- 
nance. In the year 1714, he composed a set of rules 
for their direction, which all the members were expect- 
ed to subscribe and to observe ;* and he continued to 
assist and cheer them by his presence, from time to 
time, as often as his other avocations would permit. 
The benign influence of these social and humble insti- 
tutions, thus judiciously established and conducted, ap- 
peared in the exemplary lives and triumphant deaths of 
many of their members. 

In the varied labours of his ministry, this diligent 
pastor was highly encouraged, by perceiving the value 
that was put on them, and the success with which they 
were crowned. Knowing the worth of immortal souls, 
it rejoiced him exceedingly to find his ministrations 
blessed, in any one instance, for bringing a sinner to 
the knowledge of Christ, or for promoting the holiness 
and joy of a Christian. Of this we may produce the 
following example : 

JRortmoak, Jan. 19, 1709, being Wednesday, and a 
sermon-day. Margaret Selkirk stayed with me to din- 



* See App. No. VII. 
K 



194 



LIFE AXD DIARY OF 



ner ; and after dinner, she came up to my closet, and 
told me how the Lord had made me an instrument of 
refreshing her soul with the sweet truths of God. She 
told me of the way and manner, and means of her con- 
version ; and what wonderful mercy and free grace had 
been shown towards her. And O with what life did 
she speak of the Lord's dealings to her soul. After 
this I told her of my condition, and how much I was a 
stranger to the sweet manifestations of the Lord's face ; 
and I entreated her to carry my case to the Lord, that 
he might be graciously pleased to return to me. She 
promised to do it ; and, praise to my God, this morning, 
being Thursday, Jan. 20, in prayer, I found a blink of 
his countenance ; I found his spirit warming my heart ; 
and drawing out and enlarging my soul after him. I 
was made to pray for myself, that God would honour 
me to be an instrument to serve him in this congrega- 
tion. I was made to bless him that he honoured me as 
an instrument in comforting and establishing the souls 
of any of his people that were near and dear to him. I 
was made to bless God, for his grace towards 31. Sel- 
kirk in particular, in whom I saw so much of God and 
heaven. I was made to bless God for hearing her on 
my account, and to plead that he might hear her for 
myself, for my flock, for my family ; and that he would 
hear both her and me, for the Lord Christ's sake." 

This extract from the Diary, expressed as it is with 
that plainness and simplicity of diction which characte- 
rises the whole manuscript, and which accorded with 
the prevailing taste and spirit of the pious in those 
times, supplies a pleasing specimen of the high esteem 
he placed on the prayers of the godly amongst his peo- 
ple as the means of obtaining divine communications to 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



195 



himself. The following entry exhibits another proof 
of the delight which he felt at every appearance of suc- 
cess in gaining the attention of an audience to the doc- 
trines of the cross, or in impressing the conscience and 
heart. His gratitude and joy were enhanced by the 
disheartening thoughts w hich had previously oppressed 
his mincl. 

" July 7, 1714, being the Sabbath immediately be- 
fore the Sacrament in this place. I was under great 
fears as to my through-bearing in the work of this day, 
before I went forth to public worship ; which I remem- 
ber put me to my knees, and made me pray that if the 
Lord did not go with me, he would rather lay his hand 
upon me, and put a stop to my going further, to discre- 
dit the Gospel. The Lord was pleased graciously to 
hear and pity ; for I never remember that I had more 
freedom in my life than this day, in delivering my Mas- 
ter's message. There was a great company of people, 
so that I was obliged to preach in the open field, in re- 
gard that the church could not contain the half of them. 
The Lord gave me a composure of mind, and suggest- 
ed many things to me in speaking, which I had not so 
much as thought on before. The people heard with a 
great deal of greediness and attention, so as if they 
would have drawn the word out of me ; and I cannot 
but think some souls have this day been either convert- 
ed, or confirmed and comforted. I have heard, since 
sermon was over, that some were made to go home with 
vehement longings after Christ. I preached on Isaiah 
xlii. 1 ; the second doctrine drawn from the connexion, 
viz. that the gracious discovery of Christ darkens all 
the pretended excellency of idols. I went to see some 
sick folk ; and one David Wilkie, a very judicious per- 



196 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



son, told me that his daughter Margaret was made to 
go home with a strange work upon her spirit, as if a 
flame of love and desire after Christ had been kindled 
in her breast. Lord make it to abide, and to burn 
more and more. I take the Lord's countenance in this 
day's work as a seal of my ministry, and a pledge of 
his being with me on the great Feast-day. 

The readiness of his parishioners to appreciate and 
to profit by his services, appears not merely from his 
own private record, but from other documents, and from 
unquestioned tradition. Not only was the church 
crowded on the Lord's day, but the Thursday lecture 
was well attended. Masters and servants studied mu- 
tually to arrange their affairs, so that neither the opportu- 
nity of public worship, nor the necessary business of their 
secular callings, was neglected. Even diets of exami- 
nation were often attended by a large audience. The 
people distinguished themselves alike by their thirst for 
knowledge, by a spirit of devotion, and by the proprie- 
ty of their general conduct. During the time of public 
prayer and praise, the hearts of the worshippers seemed 
much engaged. The services of the Sabbath were fre- 
quently closed by singing the concluding verses of the 
7 2d Psalm. And " O I" added a pious eye and ear-wit- 
ness, when relating this circumstance, " with what 
rapture was it sung ! Never can I hear such delightful 
melody, till I get to heaven." 

One mark of the attention to religious instruction 
which, during that period, prevailed among the people 
of Portmoak, was the habit of taking notes, in short- 
hand, of the discourses, at the time of their delivery. 
With regard to the propriety of this practice, different 
opinions may be held. It was not discouraged, how- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 197 

ever, by Mr. Erskine. Sometimes he publicly address- 
ed the " scribes " as he called them, and gave them 
short hints for their direction. Some of them became 
so expert in the art, that they wrote the discourses en- 
tire ; while others satisfied themselves with taking the 
heads and leading ideas. Not contented with writing 
lectures, and sermons, and exhortations at the Lord's 
Supper, many of them recorded the substance of the 
catechetical exercises, and even private counsels ad- 
dressed to families and individuals. So profound was 
their veneration for their pastor, and so great their 
esteem for his instructions, that they were solicitous to 
preserve whatever dropt from his tongue or pen. Some 
of the writers were accustomed to read over, on the 
Sabbath evenings, the discourses of the day, to their 
relatives and neighbours, who gladly embraced this op- 
portunity of refreshing their memories. Manuscript 
volumes, containing the sermons and other exercises of 
that age, are still in the possession of several indivi- 
duals in the parish. Amongst the most noted short- 
hand " scribes," was one Ebenezer JBirrel, said to have 
been the first male-child baptized by Mr. Erskine, and 
the first interred in the present church-yard of Port- 
moak. He departed this life in 1722, in the 21st year 
of his age. His minister esteemed him sincerely while 
he lived, and after his death composed the following 
plain verse, which was inscribed on his tomb : 

" My weary life is spent, 
My glass is run ; 
My torch is lighted, 
Now my joy's begun." 

A variety of circumstances happily combined to give 
effect to Mr. Erskine's ministry in this parish. A foun- 



198 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



dation for his usefulness was probably laid by the pow- 
erful discourses of the persecuted ministers, particular- 
ly Messrs. Blackader and Welsh, who during the 
unhappy reigns of the two brothers, preached occa- 
sionally to large and deeply interested audiences in the 
most sequestered spots of the Lomond hills. The mo- 
rals of the people too had been considerably reformed 
by the laudable exertions of his worthy predecessors, 
the Rev. William Mackie, a man of eminent ability, 
who succeeded the episcopal clergyman at the Revolu- 
tion 1688, and was afterward translated to the parish of 
Markinch, * and the Rev. John Wilson, who was or- 
dained at Portmoak in November 24, 1698, but trans- 
ferred to Kirkaldy, as was formerly stated, f in the year 
1702. The subject of this memoir zealously seconded 
the labours of those good men ; and not without re- 
markable success, used every effort, by seasonable 
warnings, and by the faithful exercise of discipline, to 
promote reverence for the name, the Sabbath, and the 
ordinances of God, and universal decency and regula- 
rity of conduct. 

In the preservation of order and decorum in the pa- 
rish, he was greatly assisted by the vigilance and pru- 
dent activity of his Elders, of whom, for a consider- 
able period, the number was no less than twenty-four. 
Distinguished for piety and good sense, they exerted 
themselves with much effect in composing differences, 
in cherishing a spirit of love and concord, in securing 
a punctual attendance on every part of divine worship ; 
in short, in furthering all the important objects of their 
office. Some of these venerable men lived to a great 



* See Append. No. VIII. 



f Page 72. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



199 



age ; and to the present hour their names are remem- 
bered, and their memory is blessed. To animate this 
valuable class of coadjutors to an active discharge of 
their office, their pastor composed a paper for their use, 
entitled, " Instructions to the Elders of Portmoak." 
He prepared also a series of Questions relating to the 
performance of their official duties, which was approv- 
ed by the session, and appointed to be proposed at least 
twice a year to each elder. * 

Another favourable circumstance was the co-opera- 
tion of excellent Teachers, who during his incumben- 
cy, occupied the parish school of Portmoak ; particular- 
ly Mr. Dun, an able and a pious man, who was set- 
tled schoolmaster here in the year 1722, and continued 
to fulfil the duties of his station for the long period of 
fifty years. To the instructions of this excellent 
preceptor, a number of clergymen, and others that 
have risen to eminence, were indebted for the first 
principles of literature. He could number among his 
pupils, for example, Mr. John Mair, A. M. Rector of 
the Grammar School of Ayr, and afterwards of the 
Perth Academy, whose elementary works, as his Tyro's 
Dictionary, and his Introduction to Latin Syntax, are 
still in high repute for their utility to the students of 
that language. Michael Bruce, the celebrated 
poet, formerly mentioned, was another of Mr. Dun's 
scholars. After acquiring the elements of knowledge 
under this gentleman's tuition, he prosecuted his clas- 
sical and philosophical studies at the university of St. 
Andrews, and subsequently in spring 1767, attended 
the prelections of the late Rev. John Swanston of Kin- 

* These Questions may be seen in the Append. No. IX. 



200 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ross, professor of theology to the Associate Synod. By 
his talents and modesty he endeared himself to Mr. 
Swanston, and also to the late Rev. Dr. Lawson of Sel- 
kirk. Mr. James Scott, Musselburgh, and other fellow 
students, who spoke warmly of his rare endowments, and 
deeply lamented his early decease. His connexion 
with the Secession church has been generally passed 
over by his biographers. Every one, however, has 
heard of his intimacy with Logan, a man of kindred 
genius, who was the first editor of his works, and 
who did not hesitate to affirm, that the latter part of 
his Elegy on Spring, " is perhaps not inferior to any 
poetry in any language/' The church yard of Port- 
moak now presents to the delighted eye of the passen- 
ger, an elegant sepulchral monument to the memory of 
this admirable youth ; which was reared a few years 
since, chiefly by the benevolent efforts of Dr. George 
Baird, Principal of the University of Edinburgh. 

The last of Mr. Dun's pupils we shall notice is Mr. 
David Arxot of Portmoak, an individual who, though 
he never aspired to the honours of any public station, 
was well known by a wide circle of acquaintance, as a 
man of excellent sense and superior worth. This is the 
friend whom, under the designation of Agricola, 
Bruce has immortalized, in his poem entitled <; Loch 
Leven.'' The eulogy, which consists of twenty lines, 
begins as follows : 

u How blest the man ! who in these peaceful plains 
Ploughs his paternal field, far from the noise, 
The care, and bustle of a busy world !" <Scc. 

The parish of Portmoak, possessing an excellent gos- 
pel ministry, and these various concurring advantages, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 201 

became like 66 a field which the Lord hath blessed." It 
abounded with intelligent and lively Christians., and ex- 
hibited to all observers a happy specimen of the saluta- 
ry fruit which arises from the divine blessing on the la- 
bours of a faithful pastor, aided by judicious elders, and 
by competent and diligent teachers. It may be affirm- 
ed, without flattery, that to the present day, the inha- 
tants of that parish, generally speaking, are superior to 
many with respect to their attainments in Christian 
knowledge, and their marked veneration for godliness, 
sobriety, and honesty ; and that in all probability, as a 
respectable layman in an adjoining parish remarks, 
" the good effects of Mr. Erskine's ministry in the pa- 
rish of Portmoak will continue for several generations 
to come." In the Statistical Account of this Parish, 
written between thirty and forty years since, the rever- 
end author, although in the whole account, he has not 
chosen, in a single instance, to introduce the name of 
Ebenezer Erskine, does ample justice to the character 
of the parishioners. " They are uncommonly regular," 
says he, " in the discharge of religious duties, and, with 
a few exceptions, are industrious, sober, and peaceable. 
During the residence of the present incumbent, there is 
no instance of any one being punished either by fine, 
banishment, or death. In a collection made some years 
ago for the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and in one 
lately for a poor widow of the parish, the charity and 
humanity of the parishioners appeared conspicuous." * 

The usefulness of this distinguished clergyman was 
not confined to those who were favoured, in providence, 



* Statist. Acc. of Scotland, vol. v. pp. 165-6. 



202 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



with his immediate pastoral inspection. The increasing 
celebrity of his character as a faithful preacher, and an 
able defender of evangelical truth, allured many serious 
Christians from other parishes, and even from places at 
the distance of sixty or seventy miles, to attend the ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper at Portmoak. The 
public collections made on such occasions, agreeably to 
custom, gradually rose till they more than tripled their 
original amount. About the year 1718, it was found ne- 
cessary to provide a large supply of additional tokens for 
communicants. * The concourse of hearers, particularly 
on the Sabbath, was very great. The people still point 
out with pleasure those convenient spots on the side of 
a hill, where two distinct assemblies were formed for a 
series of years in the open air, besides the audience that 
met in the church. At these sacramental solemnities, 
it may be stated in passing, it was usual for public wor- 
ship to begin on the Fast-day at ten o'clock a. m. ; on 
Saturday at twelve noon ; on Sabbath at eight in the 
morning, and on Monday at nine. The services of 
those days were often accompanied with a powerful 
blessing from above. So signal was the success attend- 
ing the Gospel and its sacred institutions, that many on 
their death-beds spoke of the hills of Portmoak, as Be- 
thels where God Almighty had met with them, and im- 
parted signal manifestations of his glory and love, f 

* Portmoak MS. The increase in the number of partakers 
appears also, from this circumstance, that a memorandum in one 
of Mr. Erskine's Note books, written in 17-8, relates to commis- 
sioning wine for 2067 communicants. 

•j- Gospel Truth, p. 57. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



203 



The following extract from Mrs. Balderston's Diary 
furnishes one slight notice of the religious and joyful 
impressions experienced at these solemn assemblies : 

M July 28, 1717. The Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was given at Portmoak, my brother Ebenezer's 
parish. I was there. Though under a cloud, yet I 
heard the voice of the Father saying unto me, 4 This is 
my beloved Son ; hear him ; and I went to the table 
under a sense of my own vileness, with an eye of faith 
to the Mediator's fulness, and saw that in him I am 
complete. They say that, to the comfortable felt expe- 
rience of many, it was as great a day of the Gospel as 
ever they witnessed." 

In the numerous services attending these solemn and 
extraordinary gatherings, the assistance of a great 
number of ministers was indispensably requisite. The 
men whose brotherly aid he solicited and received were 
eminent alike for soundness of principle and holiness 
of practice. Grateful for their valuable labours at 
Portmoak, he cheerfully returned them ; and wherever 
he appeared, his ministrations were very acceptable and 
useful. He often assisted in administering the Lord's 
Supper, to the delight and edification of Christians, 
both in his immediate vicinity and in more distant pa- 
rishes. His aid was frequently given, amongst others, 
to the ministers of Edinburgh ; and his ministrations in 
that city, no doubt, were the means of communicating 
spiritual refreshment to not a few, similar to that which 
Mrs. Balderston, according to her own statement, ex- 
perienced. When detailing the various services of 
the Spring Communion in the Tolbooth Church, Edin- 
burgh, 1719, this good woman says, 

" The preparation day was the 7th March. My 



204 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



brother Ebenezer's text was Song ii. 8. 6 The voice of 
my Beloved, &c.' — a very great and sweet sermon, 
which my soul closed with. I cannot remember ser- 
mons, but this I know to my blessed experience, that 
' He is my beloved ; he is mine and I am his ;' and he 
is my faithful God, and nothing will ever be able to se- 
parate me from his love." 

The discourses of this faithful minister were blessed 
not only for consoling the serious hearer, but also for 
awakening the drowsy conscience, and softening the 
obdurate heart. Of this the following singular instance 
is confirmed by testimony which seems entitled to 
credit. 

At one time, after travelling, towards the end of the 
week, from Portmoak to the banks of the Forth, on his 
way to Edinburgh, he, with several others, was pre- 
vented by a storm from crossing that frith. Thus 
obliged to remain in Fife during the Sabbath, he was 
employed to preach, it is believed, in Kinghorn. Con- 
formably to his usual practice, he prayed earnestly in 
the morning for the divine countenance and aid in the 
work of the day ; but suddenly missing his note-book, 
he knew not what to do. His thoughts, however, were 
directed to that command, " Thou shalt not kill ;" and 
having studied the subject with as much care as the 
time would permit, he delivered a short sermon on it 
in the forenoon after the lecture. Having returned to 
his lodging, he gave strict injunctions to the servant 
that no one should be allowed to see him during the in- 
terval of worship. A stranger, however, who was also 
one of the persons detained by the state of the weather, 
expressed an earnest desire to see the minister; and 
having with difficulty obtained admittance, appeared 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



205 



much agitated, and asked him, with great eagerness, 
whether he knew him, or had ever seen or heard of him. 
On receiving assurance that he was totally unacquainted 
with his face, character, and history, the gentleman pro- 
ceeded to state that his sermon on the sixth command 
had reached his conscience ; that he was a murderer ; 
that being the second son of a Highland laird, he had 
some time before, from base and selfish motives, cruelly 
suffocated his elder brother, who slept in the same bed 
with him ; and that now he had no peace of mind, and 
wished to surrender himself to justice, to suffer the pu- 
nishment due to his horrid and unnatural crime. Mr. 
Erskine asked him if any other person knew any thing 
of his guilt. His answer was, that so far as he was 
aware, not a single individual had the least suspicion of 
it ; on which the good man exhorted him to be deeply 
affected with a sense of his atrocious sin, to make an 
immediate application to the blood of sprinkling, and to 
bring forth fruits meet for repentance ; but at the same 
time, since, in providence, his crime had hitherto re- 
mained a secret, not to disclose it, or give himself up to 
public justice. The unhappy gentleman embraced this 
well-intended counsel in all its parts, became truly pious, 
and maintained a friendly correspondence with this "ser- 
vant of the Most High God" in future life. It is added, 
that after he withdrew, the minister had the happiness 
to recover the manuscript formerly missing ; and, in 
consequence, preached in the afternoon on the topic he 
had originally in view. 

We shall conclude this chapter with a few notices of 
the Fathers and Brethren alluded to above, with whom 
Mr. Erskine corresponded in clerical services during 



206 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



his residence at Portmoak ; those of them at least, whose 
history is, in some points, particularly connected with 
his own. 

Among his seniors in office, the Rev. John Shaw 
is entitled to very respectful remembrance. This va- 
luable pastor, after ministering for a short period at 
Newton, in the presbytery of Dalkeith, was translated 
to Leslie, November 9, 1698, where he laboured nine 
years with great approbation. It was the remark of 
the people of that parish, that during Mr. Shaw's mi- 
nistry, " every Sabbath was like a communion Sabbath, 
and a communion Sabbath like the gate of heaven." 
He decidedly refused a pressing call which was given 
to him to Perth in December 1704 ; but having after- 
wards received an invitation to South Leith, he was 
persuaded to accept of it, and was consequently ad- 
mitted there in spring 1708.* His ministrations in 
this new charge proved acceptable and useful. Mrs. 
Balderston makes frequent mention in her diary of his 
edifying sermons. The last time she heard him, which 
was in the Canongate Church in July 1735, she was 
richly comforted by his discourse. Her brother, Mr. 
Ralph Erskine, was also much benefited by a sermon 
he heard him preach in his youth, as appears from a 
letter of sympathy he wrote to Mr. Shaw at a time of 
personal and domestic affliction in March 1731.f Eben- 
ezer, too, loved and revered him as a father in Christ. 
We have seen that he sat some years under his ministry 
at Leslie, and that he experienced his friendly attention 
as a member of Kirkaldy Presbytery, both when li- 

* Records of Kirk. Presb. 

+ See Rev. J olin Brown's Coll. of Relig. Let. No. 42. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 207 

censed to preach, and when ordained to the ministry. 
He enjoyed the advantage also, we doubt not, of a fre- 
quent interchange of services with him, at least before 
his translation to Leith. 

The Rev. Andrew Wardrope was another near 
neighbour and much esteemed father. For some years 
this godly man was one of the ministers of Kirkaldy ; 
but influenced partly by the love of study and retire- 
ment, and partly by the violent and unreasonable treat- 
ment he met with from two individuals exercising the 
magistracy in that town, he acquiesced in a call he re- 
ceived about 1700 to the small and retired charge of 
Ballingry. * Here he laboured with zeal and fidelity 
till the day of his death, which took place at the be- 
ginning of the year 1717. Mr. Wardrope, the reader 
will recollect, was the minister who moderated at 
Portmoak when a call was given to Mr. Erskine, and 
who also presided at his ordination there. From that 
time, as the diary fully shows, the most friendly inter- 
course subsisted betwixt them, and they were always 
prepared to perform offices of kindness and sympathy 
towards each other. 

The Rev. James Webster, of the Tolbooth Church, 
Edinburgh, was not only a highly valued friend and 
correspondent of Mr. Erskine, but the father of his se- 
cond wife. This good man received his education at 
the University of St. Andrews. From his youth he 
discovered a warm attachment to evangelical doctrine, 
and to the principles of Presbytery. In the years 
1678-9 he suffered an imprisonment of eighteen 
months in the tolbooth of Dundee, merely because he 



* Records of Kirk. Presb. 



208 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



was convicted of attending a " house conventicle" in 
that town, * After enduring further hardships at 
Dumfries in 1685-6, he undertook the pastoral care of 
an indulged Presbyterian meeting at Craigmillar, near 
Edinburgh. Subsequently to the Revolution, he was 
settled at Whitekirk, East Lothian; but about 1700 
was translated to Edinburgh, where he persisted in his 
work with great energy and success, till he entered the 
joy of his Lord, May 17, 1720. He published a small 
volume of Communion Sermons in 1705 ; and some 
tLAe after his death, another volume, entitled " Select 
Sermons," was printed. The proofs which this emi- 
nent man exhibited in the ecclesiastical courts of zeal 
and resolution in the cause of truth will fall to be af- 
terwards noticed. Dr. Alexander Webster, the ho- 
noured founder of the scheme for the benefit of Wi- 
dows of the Scotish Clergy, was the son of this Mr. 
Webster, and thus brother-in-law to Mr. Erskine. 

The Rev. John Gibb of Cleish, and Andrew Ure 
of Fossaway were formerly mentioned, as ministers 
whose discourses proved refreshing to their brother of 
Portmoak. Both of them were probably ordained a 
few years before him. Mr. Gibb died about the year 
1742, in the 74th year of his age and the 43d of his 
ministry. To primitive integrity and simplicity of 
character, he added unwearied diligence in pasto- 
ral duty. At one time, it is said, he travelled during 
a storm to the extremity of his parish, to comfort a 
godly man in his dying moments. The cottage being 
solitary, and owing to the inclemency of the weather 
no other person venturing that evening to visit the fa- 



* Wodrow's Hist. vol. i. Book ii. ch. 13. sect. 6. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 209 



mily, he watched with them all night, performing with 
alacrity every kind office in his power ; and when he 
returned home next day, made the remark " that it was 
no small honour to sit up a winter's night with an heir 
of glory, or (in his own homely but expressive lan- 
guage) with a piece of heavens plenishin"* In the 
year 1737 he preached a sermon, at the opening of the 
Synod of Fife, from Ps. xlviii. 12-14, in which he bore 
an explicit testimony against errors opposed to the doc- 
trine of grace, and against the violent intrusion of mi- 
nisters by the law of patronage. Agreeably to his 
wish, modestly expressed on his death-bed, this dis- 
course, bearing the title of " The Beauty and Strength 
of Gospel Zion," was published after his decease, as 
" his dying testimony to the Church of Scotland." 

Mr. Ure of Fossaway was a man of the same hea- 
venly temper. He is " still talked of in that parish and 
neighbourhood, as eminent for talent, piety, and mi- 
nisterial fidelity." He was the maternal grandfather 
of that judicious and worthy minister, the late Rev. 
John Belfrage, Falkirk.f 

The Rev. William Moncrieff of Largo must also be 
noticed as a beloved contemporary and fellow-labourer in 
the Gospel. This excellent man was a son of Mr. Alexan- 
der Moncrieff, minister of the parish of Scoonie, Fife- 
shire, before the Restoration ; who, in August 1660, was 
committed to prison, and subsequently endured a vari- 
ety of sufferings, which were terminated by his death 
a few months before the Revolution. " I wish his 
worthy son," says Wodrow, referring to Mr. Moncrieff 
of Largo, " at present a reverend and useful minister in 
* Portmoak MS. 

f See " A Father's Memorial" subjoined to " the Monitor to 
Families," by Dr. Henry Belfrage. 



210 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



this church, could be prevailed with to give us a Life of 
this holy person."* The Rev. Alexander Moncrieff of 
Abernethy, one of the first four Seceding Brethren, 
was nephew to William, and in the year 1712, resided 
with him some time at Largo, where he reaped signal 
benefit from his uncle's domestic exercises and public 
ministrations, f From the terms in which he is men- 
tioned in Mrs. Balderston's Diary, it appears that Mr. 
William Moncrieff was held in high estimation by pious 
Christians in Edinburgh. He was indeed earnestly in- 
vited to accept of a charge in that city ; but his delight 
in retirement and love to his people in Fife prevailed 
against every argument that could be urged for his 
translation. 

Few of Mr. Erskine's correspondents were dearer to 
him than his immediate neighbour, the Rev. James 
Bathgate, Orwell. He was a very acceptable preach- 
er, and a man of gentle dispositions, but fervent in reli- 
gion, and zealous in the cause of evangelical truth. It 
pleased providence to remove him by death, in the 
prime of life, and in the midst of his usefulness, March 
30, 1724. He was the youngest of all the Twelve 
Brethren, who, in 1721, united in a Representation to 
the General Assembly respecting the act passed in con- 
demnation of the Marrow of Modern Divinity, and 
was the first of their number that departed this life. 
His death was uncommonly triumphant, and with his 
last breath he expressed the high satisfaction he felt in 
reflecting on the part he had been enabled to act in re- 
gard to that public appearance. Both the Erskines 
held him in great esteem. Ebenezer calls him " that 

* YTod. Hist. vol. i. book i. ch. 2. sect. 5. 
+ Christ. Mag. vol. viii. pp. 89-96, 133-140. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



211 



worthy servant of Christ/' and represents him as hav- 
ing sustained the sharpest arrows of reproach for the 
sake of the truth.* Ralph testified his veneration for 
his memory by composing an Elegy on his death, the 
best verses of which have been published.f 

Several other excellent clergymen with whom Mr. 
Erskine less or more interchanged services during his 
ministry at Portmoak must here be passed over, in- 
cluding his dear brother Ralph — who, though connected 
with a different Presbytery, was settled at a moderate 
distance from him ; — and all those Brethren who after- 
wards took part with him in his secession from the es- 
tablished judicatories. We cannot stop to narrate the 
interesting facts that are known relative to the Rev. 
James Hogg, Carnock, and John Williamson, In- 
veresk, who heartily concurred with him in their views 
and exertions respecting the Marrow Controversy ;J 
nor to state the few circumstances we have learned re- 
garding his co-presbyter, the Rev. David Pitcairn, 
who was settled at Dysart in 1708, and continued to 
discharge his ministry there with ability and diligence 
for about the space of half a century ; or his neighbour, 
the Rev. Mr. M'Gill of Kinross, a man equally es- 
teemed for piety and learning, and the Rev. George 
Gillespie of Strath miglo, whom, though he disap- 
proved of his procedure in reference to the Marrow 
question, he sincerely valued for the general soundness 
of his sentiments, as well as for his active zeal in behalf 
of practical religion. 

* See his Preface to Sermon on Tit. iii. 8. 
f See Gospel-Truth, pp. 134, 135. 

J See Memoirs of the Public Life of Mr. James Hogg, and 
Brown's Gospel-Truth, pp. 119-132. 



212 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Omitting any further account of these worthy men, 
and not even naming a few others that might be hon- 
ourably mentioned, we shall only record, in conclusion, 
some particulars relating to the Rev. John Currie, of 
Kinglassie, whom the subject of this memoir long num- 
bered among his most intimate and inseparable friends. 

Mr. Currie, having studied at Edinburgh, was licensed 
by the Presbytery of Kirkaldy, April 9, 1705. The 
September following, he was ordained at Kinglassie by 
the same Presbytery, Mr. Shaw, then of Leslie, presid- 
ing. He proved a faithful, laborious, and successful 
pastor. He was distinguished as an early riser, a close 
student, rigidly temperate, yet a cheerful and lively 
companion. His son, Mr. William Currie, was licensed 
in the year 1744, and ordained his assistant and succes- 
sor, March 13, 1750 ; on which occasion the father 
preached and presided. He died in a good old age, 
in September 1766, deeply regretted by his people ; 
many of whom had, under his pastoral care, attained to 
eminence in Christian knowledge and piety. His son 
did not survive him many years.* 

Messrs. Currie and Erskine having formed habits of 
mutual intimacy in early life, their settlement as co- 
presbyters in each others neighbourhood was hailed by 
both as a very happy event. Various pleasing testi- 
monies to the tender affection, and confidential inter- 
course, that subsisted betwixt them for many years, are 
supplied by the Diary. We produce an example. 

" Portmoak, Dec. 29, 1713. Mr. Currie sent me 
word this day, that his old trouble, the gravel, had re- 
curred upon him as much as ever. I wrote a line to 
him to this purpose : 

* Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



213 



« Dear Brother, 

Be not discouraged. You know the 
rose, the sweetest of flowers, grows upon the thorn. I 
hope this thorny dispensation will yield the peaceable 
fruits of righteousness. The blessed Rose of Sharon 
never smells sweeter, than when he is found among the 
thickets of affliction ; and one smell of his perfumed 
garments will make the wilderness like Sharon, and like 
the garden of God. Ere long, the clouds and shadows 
will pass away. Weeping may endure for a night, but 
joy cometh in the morning ; and then we shall find that 
our heaviest afflictions had been light and for a mo- 
ment. Oh for grace to acquiesce in the operations and 
prescriptions of our skilful Physician, and to yield im- 
plicit submission, even when the potion is most bitter 
to sense. Surely all is well done that he doth ; and all 
shall end well to them that love him — and I think you 
will not deny that he hath won your heart. These 
things you know well enough ; but perhaps they may 
refresh your memory." 

The following instance of their friendship is still more 
remarkable. — A superstitious attention to dreams, as 
was hinted in a preceding chapter, is an evidence of 
mental imbecillity ; and the rash and bold interpretation 
of them may produce most pernicious effects. Yet since 
" a dream cometh through the multitude of business," 
since the character of the individual gives a tinge to the 
visions of the night ; and since they often involve a re- 
ference to persons that stand high in our esteem, these 
nocturnal illusions, duly considered, may contribute not 
only to make men better acquainted with their own 
prevailing inclinations, but to confirm their attachment 
to the pious, to reprove past neglects, and to stimulate 



214 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to well-doing. It is possible for a dream to be of such 
a description, that it can scarcely be altogether over- 
looked by a man of the most vigorous intellect. Of 
this nature was that impressive and heavenly vision, 
which Mr Erskine had when recovering from a danger- 
ous fever, and which he thus relates : 

" March 29, 1714. I remember also, that about the 
end of my fever, I had a dream, which was pleasant to 
me. I thought that my dear brother, Mr. John Cur- 
rie, and I were both in the separate state, and that we 
were together carried up above the sun, moon, and 
stars, and that we came to the place of the blessed — the 
gate of glory. However, there was, I thought, a vail 
betwixt us and that blessed place, where Christ is, and 
all his redeemed company, so that although we saw 
some glimmerings of glory through the vail, yet we 
could not get access. At length, One came to us in 
human shape, and asked us what we were doing there ? 
Unto whom I replied, that we would fain be in among 
the rest of the redeemed company, to sing hallelujahs 
to Him that sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. He 
answered that we could not enter at that time, in regard 
our Master had more service for us upon earth. I 
thought, seeing the Lord had more service for us, I was 
content ; though, if it had been the Lord's will, I would 
rather have chosen to be among the redeemed company 
within the vail. I asked him that spoke to us, how- 
ever, if it be so, how should we win back again to the 
earth ; for there is a great gulf betwixt us and it ? He 
answered, I know no way you can win back, unless you 
get a convoy of angels. On which, I thought we came 
back ; but how — I cannot tell. The dream was sweet 
to me in my sleep, and pleasant also when I awaked." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 215 

This is all that the Diary contains on the subject ; 
but tradition embellishes the story by some additional 
circumstances. Mr. Currie, it is alleged, was favoured 
on that very night, with a vision entirely parallel ; and 
after he awoke, and began to ruminate on its probable 
import, he became apprehensive, that his beloved friend 
might be dead, or dying ; and immediately took a jour- 
ney to Portmoak, where he arrived at an early hour. 
Mr. Erskine, embracing him with more than usual 
warmth, expressed his happiness at seeing him in the 
land of the living, and proceeded to inform him of the 
imaginations with which his mind had been agitated 
amid the slumbers of the preceding night. After mu- 
tual explanation, they found that each of them had had 
a dream to the very same effect ; and they employed the 
forenoon of that day, as became the servants of the God 
of spirits, in improving the solemn admonition they had 
thus jointly received, and exciting each other to re- 
double their diligence in their Master's service, that 
they might stand prepared, to render a good account of 
their stewardship, when their Lord should say, " Ye 
shall be no longer stewards." The vouchers for the 
story in this romantic shape, are two respectable per- 
sons ; to whom it is reported to have been communicat- 
ed by the parties ; — to one by the minister of Portmoak, 
and to the other by the minister of Kinglassie.* With- 
out the least violation of charity, however, unintentional 
exaggerations may be suspected. It is quite credible 
that Mr. Erskine, shortly after the dream, enjoyed the 
pleasure of a visit from his friend ; that he stated to him 
the particulars ; and that the two good men took occa- 



* Portmoak MS. Christ. Repos. vol. iii. p. 707. 



216 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



sion to exhort one another to increased vigilance and 
faithfulness in the prospect of their Lord's coming. But 
since the Diary makes no mention of Mr. Currie hav- 
ing had a similar dream on the same night, this part of 
the story, in all probability, is apocryphal. 

Another instance of the brotherly confidence which 
these two ministers reposed in each other, is supplied 
by a letter from " Ebenezer Erskine" to Mr. Currie, 
published at the beginning of a pamphlet, containing a 
sermon on Matt. v. 20, preached by the latter at Kirk- 
alcly, Nov. 12, 1727. Mr. Currie, it appears from that 
letter and from his own preface, had incurred the dis- 
pleasure of some individuals in that town and parish, 
both by a treatise on the people's divine right to choose 
their own pastors, of which he was the reputed author ;* 
and by the firm opposition he had given to the mea- 
sures they had " taken for supplying their vacancy with 
a minister, and for settling elders, without the consent 
of the people, over whom they are made overseers." 
These prejudiced hearers, therefore, thought proper to 
carp at a few expressions, not exactly suited to fastidi- 
ous ears, which had fallen from the lips of this faithful 
minister, in the course of an excellent sermon ; and he 
was induced to publish it for his own vindication. Mr. 
Erskine states in. his letter that, having read a copy of 
his discourse in manuscript, he saw " nothing in it but 
what might appear with boldness and confidence before 
the world, either from press or pulpit ;" and that he had 
" heard some of his auditors say that their souls were 
refreshed and edified in hearing ;" and he affectionately 
reminds him of several considerations, fitted to cheer and 



* Jus Populi Divinum. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 217 



support him under the unjust reproach he was permitted 
to suffer from." the envenomed tongue of calumny." 

The sweets of friendship, in common with every other 
earthly blessing, are held by a precarious tenure. At 
the commencement of those rigorous measures, adopted 
by the General Assembly and its Commission towards 
Mr. Erskine and his three associates, which terminated 
in their Secession, Mr. Currie gave them his counte- 
nance and sympathy — co-operating with their friends, 
who strenuously remonstrated against that injurious 
course of procedure. But after the publication of the 
Judicial Act and Testimony by the Associate Presby- 
tery, he not merely withdrew his brotherly favour and 
support from his old long-tried friend and neighbour ; 
but, both from the pulpit and the press, inveighed with 
great severity against him and his brethren, as the au- 
thors of a causeless division in the Church. He was 
considered, indeed, as the grand champion of the na- 
tional establishment, and received from the General As- 
sembly, not only cordial thanks for his valued services, 
but still more substantial expressions of gratitude.* 
Amid the mournful differ ences which, in this dark and 
imperfect state, not unfrequently arise between good 
men, who had once " taken sweet counsel together, and 
gone to the house of God in company," it is most re- 
freshing to think that there is a world of light and per- 
fection on high, where the true friends of the Saviour 
shall all meet at last, "without blame, before him in 
love ;" and where, thr ough the ages of eternity, no di- 
versity of sentiment or alienation of affection shall ever 
occur to interrupt the harmony, or impair the joy. 

* Strath. Hist. Scot. vol. ii. p. 57. 
L 



218 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Mr. Er shine's conduct as a member of Church Courts — Oath of 
Abjuration — Marrow Controversy — Vindication of his Dis- 
courses — Attachment to Confession of Faith — Fasts and Thanks- 
givings — Christian zeal for the Saviour's Divinity — Termina- 
tion of the second process against Professor Simson. 

Whilst Mr. Erskine exerted himself with fidelity and 
diligence in preaching the Gospel and administering its 
ordinances, and in performing his various parochial du- 
ties, he also felt the obligations arising from his charac- 
ter as a member of the superior ecclesiastical courts. 

His attendance on the meetings of the Presbytery, 
and the provincial Synod to which he belonged, was 
regular ; and he bore his full share in the business. 
We find him repeatedly chosen Moderator of his Pres- 
bytery; and in several instances, as in the years 1715 
and 1730, appointed one of its representatives in the 
General Assembly. Another duty which occasionally 
devolved on him was, moderating in Calls, as at Ballin- 
gry in the year 1717, some months after the death of 
Mr. Wardrope, when Mr. Clow, of Leslie, was appoint- 
ed to preach, and to aid him in the transaction " as his 
assessor" It fell to his share also, on some occasions, 
to preside at the ordination or admission of ministers. 
In January 1712, for example, when Mr. James Dick- 
son was translated from South Leith to Markinch, he 



THE REV. EJBENEZER ERSKINE. 



219 



presided at his admission, and preached on Rom. x. 15. 
He took his turn too, with his brethren, as might have 
been expected, in supplying vacant parishes within the 
bounds of the Presbytery. He was appointed, for in- 
stance, to preach a Sabbath at Burntisland in May 1711, 
after the translation of the Rev. John Cleghorn to 
Wemyss; at Kennoway in 1715, after the decease of 
Mr. Russell ; and at Markinch, after the death of Mr. 
Dickson, who departed this life in August 1730. 

As a means of improvement in theological learning, 
it was customary in those days for each minister, by ro- 
tation, to deliver, in the presence of his brethren at the 
meetings of the Presbytery, a critical discourse on some 
verse or passage of Scripture. Mr. Erskine, accord- 
ingly, was required at one time to prepare an Exercise 
on Rom. x. 16.* 

The sufferings undergone by the Presbyterians of 
Scotland, during the reigns of Charles II. and James 
VII., were not to be forgotten. Wodrow's History is a 
valuable and enduring monument, not only of his own 
diligence and fidelity, but also of the interest generally 
felt by his contemporaries in the affairs of that bloody 
period. Partly at the instance of that respectable histo- 
rian, Synods and Presbyteries, as well as individual 
clergymen, used their endeavours to collect accurate 
and full information respecting the facts. In the mi- 
nutes of Kirkaldy Presbytery for 1712, it is recorded, 
that a Committee was appointed to receive and revise 
papers relating to " the sufferings under Prelacy, that 

* All the above particulars, detailed, perhaps, with unnecessary 
minuteness, are taken from the Records of Kirkaldy Presbytery. 



220 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



they may be prepared for the Synod ;" and that, as a 
member of this Committee, " Mr. Erskine gave in the 
papers to the Committee of Synod." 

During the twenty-eight years that this active mini- 
ster continued a member of the Presbytery of Kirkaldy 
and the Synod of Fife, he enjoyed great happiness in 
his intercourse with many of the brethren belonging to 
these courts ; but his comfort in some of them was con- 
siderably marred and interrupted by the differences and 
debates which arose. These unhappy contentions ori- 
ginated chiefly in various public measures, civil and 
ecclesiastical, which gave rise to collision of sentiment, 
and created animosities and strife throughout the whole 
country. Amid the agitation of the controversies re- 
ferred to, it is not pretended that the conduct of the 
subject of this memoir was entirely faultless ; but im- 
partial inquirers will see ground to conclude that, on 
the whole, he discovered an enlightened and steadfast 
attachment to the cause of truth and duty ; and that 
his ardent zeal was tempered with meekness and pru- 
dence. 

The Oath of Abjuration imposed in the year 
1712, was a sad grievance to the Scotish clergy, and 
proved a fertile source of mutual alienation and bitter 
disputes, both among ministers and people. This oath 
was regarded with jealousy, as it revived the painful 
remembrance of those ambiguous and ensnaring oaths 
which had formerly been imposed by the house of Stew- 
art. It was extremely obnoxious to staunch Presby- 
terians, because it seemed to imply an approbation of 
the diocesan episcopacy and unscriptural ceremonies 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



221 



established in the Church of England ; the security of 
that Church being the avowed design of the oath.* In 
addition to this and several other particular objections, 
it was detested as but one branch of a system then 
formed for the total overthrow of the Presbyterian go- 
vernment and discipline in Scotland. On this trying 
occasion, about a third part of the clergy discovered a 
most laudable firmness. Though they were enjoined 
to swear this vexatious oath, on pain of ejection from 
their churches, and of paying " an exorbitant fine of 
L.500 sterling ;"f and though the strict exaction of the 
penalty was at first universally expected, they chose ra- 
ther to run every hazard than to violate their judgment 
and conscience. 

Mr. Erskine took his place amongst the non-jurors. 
It was his earnest prayer to God, that he would lead 
him in the path of duty and integrity ; and he firmly 
determined, in the strength of grace, to avoid sin, what- 
ever suffering might be the consequence. What fol- 
lows may serve as a specimen of his magnanimous lan- 
guage : 

" P. Sept. 21, 1712. Sabbath, about 8 at night. I 
went to private devotion. — My soul was lifted up to- 
wards the Lord. I was made to cry out, O Lord, my 
worldly enjoyments, my soul, my body, my heart's 
blood, are at thy service. I would reckon it my glory, 
my crown, to go to a stake, a cross, a fire, or a gib- 
bet, for thee. I am content to be hanged, beheaded, 
quartered, for thee ; if thy cause require it, and if thou 
wilt bear me through, and be with me." 

* Boston's Memoirs, p. 275. 
f Ibid, p. 273. 



-22-2 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



His decided disapprobation of the oath in its original 
form is thus expressed : 

" P. Oct 28, 1712. This is the day wherein all the 
ministers of the Church of Scotland are to swear the 
Abjuration Oath, by the appointment of the Parliament 
of Britain ; and I find that the far greater part of the 
ministers of this Church will take the oath this day. 
This morning I was somewhat distressed with the con- 
dition of the church in this land, and to think that the 
ministers thereof should take an oath, which I think in- 
consistent with their profession. I think it was some- 
what remarkable that the chapter which I happened to 
read this morning for my ordinary was Isaiah xlviii. the 
first verse of which is this, 6 Hear ye this, O house of 
Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are 
come forth out of the waters of Judah ; which swear by 
the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of 
Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.' This 
being the first verse I read, had something of a lan- 
guage, I thought, with respect to the ministers of this 
church, who are to swear through Scotland this day." 

Two days after the date of this entry, he attended a 
meeting of Presbytery ; and, as the Record shows, both 
he and Mr. Currie, of Kinglassie, requested and obtain- 
ed supply of sermon to their respective charges till next 
meeting, "as they were to be absent." These two 
brethren, having exposed themselves to the penalty by 
declining the oath, had at first resolved to discontinue 
preaching for a time, till they should see in what man- 
ner government determined to dispose of them. But, 
as appears from the letter to the Earl of Rothes, for- 
merly inserted, one of them, at least, on farther consi- 
deration and inquiry, found reason to deem this volun- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



223 



tary intermission inexpedient, and resumed the exercise 
of his office sooner than he had intended. 

The native candour of his mind, and his love of peace, 
induced him at one time so far to listen to the argu- 
ments and entreaties, employed by some brethren whom 
he respected, in favour of the oath in the less objection- 
able shape in which it was imposed in the year 1715, 
that he openly declared his willingness to take it. A 
few years after his secession from the establishment, 
this circumstance was mentioned by his quondam friend, 
the author of the " Essay on Separation," apparently 
with a design to fix a stain on his character. The ac- 
cusation is referred to in the able reply which was made 
to that Essay ;* and we think we cannot do better than 
record the particulars, as detailed by the judicious Mr. 
Wilson, and by the accused individual himself, in the 
explanatory letter produced. 

" But in regard the author of the Essay, p. 104, 
with design, as appears, to throw a reflexion upon my 
reverend brother, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, when speak- 
ing of the last form of the Oath of Abjuration, he says, 
' Of the lawfulness of which last form, the Reverend Mr. 
Ebenezer Erskine was so much convinced, that he gave 
it under his hand to the Laird of Naughton, Sheriff-de- 
pute of Fife, that he had clearness to take it, and should 
take it when required, though there was something pe- 
culiar in his circumstances, so as he would not take it 
that day on which it was taken by other ministers of 
his Presbytery. This is no secret ; for his obligation 
to take it was read openly in the Synod of Fife/ — Upon 

* A Defence of the Reformation Principles of the Church of 
Scotland, &c. by William Wilson, A. M. minister of the Gospel 
at Perth, pp. 329, 330. 



224 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the above story, reported by the author of the Essay, 
I wrote the Rev. Mr. Erskine ; and he gave me a re- 
turn, wherein he expresses himself with his ordinary 
candour and ingenuity ; and I think it not improper to 
insert it here. It is as follows : 
< R. and D. B. 

In answer to your's, relating to that 
paragraph in Mr. Currie's Essay, which concerns me in 
particular, I have nothing to say ; but only, without ir- 
ritation of mind, to acknowledge that I was so far over- 
come with the subtle arguings of brethren who were 
clear about the oath in its second edition, as to declare 
that I had freedom also. But as I did not take it at 
that time, so, upon after-thought and consideration, I 
saw just cause to alter my judgment, and declared so 
much in a letter to the Laird of JYanghton, which was 
read, as I heard, before the Synod of Fife. I shall only 
add, that I bless the Lord, that, when my foot had well 
nigh slipt, his mercy held me up, and I hope, shall help 
and uphold me to the end. I am, yours, &c. 

Ebenezer Erskine/ 

" From the above letter," continues Mr. Wilson, " the 
reader may see, that Mr. Erskine ingenuously acknow- 
ledges what the author of the Essay alleges, that he had 
once clearness to take the oath, but, notwithstanding of 
this, he saw just cause afterwards to alter his judgment ; 
and I think this is no disparagement to the Rev. Mr. 
Erskine's character." 

To what the worthy author of the Defence has thus 
justly remarked, we may add that a vacillation some- 
what similar was shown and acknowledged by others 
who sustained the highest reputation for fidelity to the 
cause of Christ. "I desired still," says Mr. Boston, re- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



225 



ferring to this oath, even in its original form, " to hang 
about the Lord's hand for further light in that matter ; 
and I durst not say to any what I would do."* 

This unhappy oath, in fact, perplexed the minds of 
many good men ; and created discord betwixt not a few 
who had previously been united in the closest bonds of 
friendship. It produced a variance, among others, be- 
tween the Rev. Alexander Anderson and Mr. Erskine. 
Mr. Anderson was for some time minister of Falkland, 
and afterwards translated to St. Andrews. In 1735 
he was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly, and 
appointed one of a deputation sent by the Assembly 
that year to London to present petitions to Parliament 
and to the Crown for a repeal of the Act of the 10th 
Queen Anne, relating to patronage, f A brotherly cor- 
respondence which had once subsisted betwixt this emi- 
nent clergyman and Mr. Erskine, appears to have been 
terminated by a difference which sprung from the oath 
in question. He was one of several " brethren who 
had endeavoured to wound his reputation, because they 
knew him to be no friend to the oath," and who were 
prepared to put the most unfavourable construction on 
passages of sermons at all capable of being applied to 
that delicate topic. Mutual recriminations in the pul- 
pit betwixt the two opposite parties on this question 
were possibly not uncommon. 

The Diary contains a curious entry, which bears 
date, Oct. 12, 1714, and gives a circumstantial detail of 
an encounter that happened between these two minis- 
ters in the church of Dysart, on the preceding day, 

* Boston's Memoirs, p. 276. 

•f- See Sir Henry Moncreiff 's Account of the Life and Writings 
of Dr. John Erskine 7 p. 7» 



226 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



being the Monday after the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper there, when both were employed to preach. 
The first sermon being assigned to Mr. Erskine, he dis- 
coursed on defection from Christ, and enumerated some 
of its symptoms and concomitants ; taking John vi. 66, 
for his text.* Mr. Anderson rose immediately after, 
and preached from Col. ii. 6. " Among other things 
implied in walking in Christ, he said it implied walking 
in love one towards another " and proceeded to make 
several remarks, which gave evidence that he applied to 
himself, and others who had taken the Oath of Abjura- 
tion, the observations which had fallen from the preced- 
ing speaker. " All divisions about lesser matters," said 
he, " where it is hard to tell who is in the right and who 
is in the wrong, are to be avoided ; and I entreat you 
to guard against all insinuations that have a tendency 
to alienate you from those ministers whom some re- 
proach as guilty of defection." 

" I remember," it is added in the Diary, " that after 
I had thought upon this sermon of mine, I was afraid 
that it might be excepted against by our jurant breth- 
ren, as if I were levelling at them, and therefore I had 
some thoughts of laying it aside ; but I had not freedom 
to do this, because I thought since I delivered nothing 
but the truths of Christ, if I should lay it aside, it would 
be a refusal to deliver the message which the Lord had 
given me, out of a fear of offending man ; and would 
not this be a pleasing of men rather than acting the part 
of a faithful minister and ambassador of Christ ? I re- 
collect also, that before I preached this sermon, I read 
over some parts of it, which I thought were most liable 



* See this Sermon in his "Works. It is the second in order. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



227 



to exception, to my dear brother, Mr. John Currie. 
When he heard my notes, he indeed said that he thought 
they would take it to them ; but he saw nothing in what 
I had read but was safe and sound, and what I might 
preach with safety. I recollect also, that before I went 
to the pulpit, I prayed earnestly to God that morning, 
that if it was his message that I had put into my mouth, 
he might own and assist me : which request the Lord 
was graciously pleased to hear, for in preaching the 
Lord helped to a composure of spirit ; gave something 
of a door of utterance, and kept me from being damped 
and discouraged with the faces of men, notwithstanding 
there were a great many of my brethren present hear- 
ing me, who had taken the oath of abjuration ; — which 
I think much of, considering my natural faintness and 
pusillanimity. I desire to give glory and praise to my 
blessed Master, that he gave me a tongue to speak, and 
deliver his message ; for I am persuaded that I deliver- 
ed nothing but what is founded on his holy word ; and 
this is what bears up my heart against the challenges 
and reproaches of men, as if I were an incendiary. That 
which furnishes me with the more peace is, that I spoke 
of no defections my brethren were chargeable with in 
particular ; but only of defection in general, and the bad 
consequences and fruits thereof, of which this was one, 
the rending of the church of Christ. And I think it 
does not look well in our brethren who have taken the 
oath, that we cannot speak of defections in public, but 
presently they apply it to themselves. If they thought 
themselves entirely innocent, and if they had the testi- 
mony of their conscience, why should their spirits be so 
rankled at the very naming of defections, especially 
when it is plain we have been guilty of palpable defec- 



228 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tions, both personal and public, from our former attain- 
ments and covenant engagements. — As to what Mr. 
Anderson said concerning my sermon in public ; if 
there was any wrath, or malice, or bitterness, in my 
spirit, I wish the Lord may convince me of it, and give 
me repentance for it ; for I am afraid there might be 
but too much of this. But it is a very hard matter, I 
think, that we should still be charged with bitterness 
and want of brotherly love, because we give our testi- 
mony against defections of the times." 

After all that had passed, Mr. Erskine manifested a 
sincere desire for reconciliation. The following entry 
affords satisfactory evidence of his forgiving and conci- 
liatory temper : 

" July 20, 1715. Here follows the copy of a letter 
which I wrote to Mr. Alexander Anderson, inviting 
him to assist at the sacrament in this place : 

R. D. B. 

We design, if the Lord will, to celebrate 
the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper in this place on 
the 2d Sabbath of August. The Fast-day will be up- 
on the Wednesday immediately preceding. I hope you 
will do me the favour to take a diet of preaching on the 
Fast-day with Mr. M'Gill and Mr. Clow, who, I sup- 
pose, will be collegiate with you. 

It is uneasy for me to think there should be any 
misunderstanding betwixt mc and a person whom I so 
much love and value ; and therefore, Dear Brother, let 
all unhappy differences be buried for ever in silence, 
and let us in time coming construe favourably one ano- 
ther's words and actions, as becomes brethren — which 
I hope we are, in more respects than one. For my 
own part, whatever harsh thoughts you may have of 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 229 

me, I can freely declare, with the utmost sincerity, 
that (though indeed of small value, yet such as they 
are,) you have had my cordial sympathy in your late 
affliction, and prayers for the Lord's countenance on 
your labours, and particularly on the great work you 
have in hand, and I hope I shall on all occasions show 
myself, Rev. and Dear Sir, 

Your very affectionate Brother and Servant, 

Ebenezer Erskine. 

Portmoak, July 20, 1715. 
With regard to Mr. Anderson's reply to this truly 
Christian letter, or the encouragement he gave to the 
kind proposal for the restoration of mutual friendship 
and brotherly correspondence, the Diary unfortunately 
is quite silent. On these points, therefore, we have 
no information. The measures adopted, however, some 
years after by this offended brother towards the object 
of his resentment, which the course of events will soon 
lead us to notice, did not well accord with the true spi- 
rit of forgiveness. 

Whilst the Church of Scotland was agitated by dis- 
sensions arising from the Oath of Abjuration, the un- 
natural Rebellion of 1715 threw the whole country 
into a state of disorder and alarm. In those districts 
which the adherents of the Pretender had taken pos- 
session of, ecclesiastical, as well as civil business was 
in a great degree interrupted, and a variety of hard- 
ships undergone. This was the state of matters in 
Fifeshire, no less than in several other counties. The 
admission of the Rev. Robert Ponton at Kennoway, 
for example, had been appointed to take place on the 
21st September 1715; but, owing to " the occurrences 
of the times," it was necessarily postponed till the 29th 



230 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of February 1716. For a series of months, it was 
hardly possible to obtain a meeting of Presbytery. At 
some meetings at Kirkaldy, the Presbytery spent part 
of the day in prayer. They " did not proceed to any 
business, the members not being come up, because of 
the present commotion in the country."* The usual 
labours of ministers in their parishes were also not a 
little obstructed and suspended. Mr. Erskine, among 
others, found it impracticable for some months to hold 
meetings of Session, or to perform the ordinary paroch- 
ial duties of the week; and appears for a few Sab- 
baths to have been prevented from occupying the pul- 
pit. At times he was under the necessity of spending 
the night in a friend's house at a distance from his 
manse, where he betook himself to repose, singing 
Psalm iv. 8.f 

" I will both lay me down in peace, 

And quiet sleep will take ; 
Because thou only me to dwell 

In safety, Lord, dost make." 

His well-known loyalty rendered him peculiarly ob- 
noxious to the abettors of the Rebellion. The acces- 
sion of the House of Hanover, and the establishment of 
George I. on the British throne, in despite of the insi- 
dious steps which had been taken to restore the exiled 
family, gave him heart- felt joy. With great pleasure 
he observed the day of Thanksgiving for that happy 
event, held on the 20th January 1715, conformably to 
the King's Proclamation, and to an appointment by the 
Commission of the General Assembly. His best en- 

* Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 
f Portmoak MS. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 231 

deavours were employed to direct the attention of his 
hearers to the merciful interposition of Providence, by 
which their civil and religious liberties were preserved 
in the hour of peril, and to the practical improvement 
they should make of this wonderful display of the Di- 
vine goodness. During the very time of the rebellion, 
he warmly inculcated unshaken loyalty, and continued 
publicly to pray for King George. Owing chiefly to 
his influence also, a considerable number of his pa- 
rishioners served as volunteers, and kept garrison in an 
adjacent castle.* 

In the following extract from his Diary, his feelings 
are briefly, but strongly expressed : 

" August 28, 1715. This day I have got certain 
news of the death of the tyrant of France. He died 
Wednesday was eight days. Glory to God for cutting 
him off. 6 He cutteth off the spirits of princes, and is 
terrible to the kings of the earth.' The mercy is so 
much the more remarkable, that, at this very time, the 
Jacobites are gathering to a head, and forming a camp 
in the Highlands at the Braes of Mar." 

The death of Louis XIV., at that critical conjunc- 
ture, appears to have excited similar sentiments among 
all the friends of the Protestant succession. Colonel 
Blackader, for instance, still more fully expresses his 
lively gratitude to God for the removal of that strenu- 
ous supporter of popery and tyranny. " We have got 
accounts," says this pious officer, " of the death of the 
King of France. We have been long looking for it, 
but God's time is the best time, and it has happened 
favourably at this crisis, when he had been laying de- 



* Portmoak MS. 



232 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



signs, and was upon the point of sending a Pretender to 
invade us. Perhaps this intervention of Providence 
may defeat their design. . . . We bless God for 
it, follow what will. He was the main pillar and sup- 
port of antichrist's kingdom." — " I bless God," he 
says also, " that I have lived to see this great event 
which I wished so much, and was afraid never to see."* 

The same spirit of patriotism which the minister of 
Portmoak discovered at the time when the standard of 
rebellion was erected, animated, we may notice, with 
very few exceptions, the whole body of the Presbyterian 
Clergy in Scotland. Their excellent temper and use- 
ful services on that occasion were handsomely acknow- 
ledged by the King, in his letter to the General As- 
sembly, May 1716, in the following terms: 

" The fresh proofs you have given us, during the 
course of the late unhappy and unnatural rebellion, of 
your firm adherence to those principles on which the 
security of our government and the happiness of our 
subjects do entirely depend, and the accounts we have 
from time to time received of your great care to infuse 
the same into the people under your charge, do engage 
us to return you our hearty thanks, and to renew to you 
the assurance we have formerly given you of our unal- 
terable resolution to maintain the established govern- 
ment of the Church in that part of our kingdom of 
Great Britain, in the full enjoyment of all just rights 
and privileges."f 

* Crichton's Life and Diary of Col. Blackader, ch. xix. pp. 
460-1. 

*|- Struth. Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p. 435. See also a variety 
of interesting particulars respecting the loyalty of the clergy, 
pp. 290, 318, &c. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 233 

Happy had it been for the Church of Scotland, had 
she seen her ministers as perfectly united in warm at- 
tachment to the unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
as in affectionate loyalty to the House of Hanover. It 
is too evident, however, that the fact was otherwise. 
There was indeed a considerable proportion of the 
clergy who clearly understood and zealously maintained 
the truth in its purity and simplicity ; but there was a 
numerous class of a different description, some of whom 
entertained dark and confused conceptions of the plan 
of salvation, and others were visibly tinctured with the 
tenets of the Arminian school. Ebenezer Erskine, it 
is well known, held a conspicuous place among the 
friends of evangelical truth. The decided part he took 
in what is usually called the Marrow Controversy,* 
and his share in the vexatious treatment experienced by 
the strenuous defenders of the doctrine of grace; must 
now be adverted to. 

With a view to check the progress of error and to 
diffuse correct sentiments among ministers and people, 
several Scotish clergymen had thought proper to coun- 
tenance the printing and publishing of various evange- 
lical books in Scotland, which had been long known 
and valued in England. Among these was the work 
entitled The Marrow of Modem Divinity, consisting 
chiefly of extracts from Luther and other eminent Pro- 

* On this memorable contest, we refer the reader to Struth. 
Hist. vol. i. book v., but above all, to the Rev. Mr. Brown's 
" Gospel-Truth accurately stated and illustrated, &c." .This 
is a work of considerable research, and contains the most ample 
view of the Marrow Controversy that has ever been published. 
The Marrow of Modern Divinity itself, with Boston's judicious 
Notes, ought also to be carefully perused. 



234 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



testant Divines, compiled by Mr. Edward Fisher, a 
learned and worthy gentleman, and first published in 
the year 1646, with recommendations by some distin- 
guished ministers of that age. The Act of Assembly 
1717,* condemning a proposition maintained by the 
Presbytery of Auchterarder relative to the immediate 
access to Christ which the Gospel gives to a sinner, 
having very much grieved the minds of several intelli- 
gent ministers and others, Mr. Hogg, of Carnock, in 
compliance with their request, was induced to republish 
the First Part of the Marrow, with a Recommendatory 
Preface. But the opposers of what was styled in de- 
rision the Auchterarder Creed, resolving to show their 
power, and to mortify that worthy man, whose con- 
scientious strictness had long rendered him obnoxious 
to those who boasted of more moderate views, per- 
suaded the General Assembly, 1720, to pass a rash and 
unwarrantable Act, severely condemnatory of that lit- 
tle book as heretical and dangerous, and enjoining all 
the Ministers of the Church, not in any way to recom- 
mend that book, but to warn their people against pe- 
rusing it, or receiving its doctrine. The great injury 
done to some precious truths of the Gospel by this pre- 
cipitate Act pressed heavily on the spirit of Mr. Er- 
skine, as well as the rest of the Twelve Brethren who 
joined in remonstrating against it, and of several others 
whom the fear of man, or an excess of caution, pre- 
vented from becoming their avowed coadjutors. 

For many years prior to the passing of this famous 
Act of Assembly, agreeably to the details formerly 

* See an account of this Act in the Testimony of the United 
Associate Synod, part i. ch. 3, pp. 31, 32. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 235 

given, he had cordially embraced, and faithfully preach- 
ed, the pure doctrine of the grace of God. In a contest 
which had been agitated for a series of years before, 
among the clergy of the Synod of Fife, " touching the 
Covenant of Grace, whether it is conditional or abso- 
lute,"* he decidedly took part with those who held that 
this Covenant in its making betwixt the Father and the 
Son was strictly conditional, but in its dispensation to 
mankind is entirely absolute. With unfeigned sorrow 
he observed the prevalence of the Neonomian creed, — 
the system by which the Gospel is represented not as a 
revelation of free grace, but as a new law requiring 
faith, repentance, and sincere obedience as the condi- 
tions of salvation. In opposition to that dangerous, 
though specious and palatable scheme, he uniformly 
taught that Christ and his blessings are freely and un- 
conditionally exhibited to sinners in the Gospel ; that 
the everlasting righteousness of the Son of God is the 
only ground of justification ; and that ministers ought to 
" beware of every thing that has the least tendency to 
foster a sinner in his hope of salvation by the works of 
the law." 

Firmly attached to these evangelical sentiments, he 
deeply regretted the condemnatory Act referred to, and 
was fully prepared to concur with Mr. Hogg, Mr. Bos- 
ton, and other zealous friends of the pure Gospel, in 
measures calculated to procure its repeal, or at least to 
vindicate those invaluable truths which, in their appre- 
hension, it had grievously injured. The Representa- 
tion and Petition on this subject, presented to the As- 
sembly, May 11, 1721, though originally composed by 



* Boston's Mem. p. 360. 



236 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Mr. Boston, was revised and perfected by Mr. Erskine.* 
He was employed also to prepare the first draught of 
Answers to the Twelve Queries, afterwards enlarged 
and improved by the Rev. Gabriel Wilson, of Maxton 
— a masterly production, which discusses the points at 
issue with a perspicuity and energy that have command- 
ed the admiration of celebrated theologians, who had no 
immediate concern in the contest. Ebenezer, ty e may 
add, wrote a private letter to an esteemed clergyman 
residing in his neighbourhood, in which he ably de- 
fends the conduct of the Representing Brethren. In 
this communication, which throws considerable light 
on the subject, he specifies particularly the precious 
truths condemned by the Act ; shows that the mode of 
vindicating these truths adopted by the Twelve Breth- 
ren, though rather singular, was justified and rendered 
necessary by the peculiar circumstances of the case ; 
and with a manly freedom avows his determination to 
persist in the cause.f 

The Assembly, aware of the general offence which 
their violent condemnation of the Marrow had given, 
and influenced, perhaps, by the clear and forcible An- 
swers returned to the Twelve Queries, which in ludi- 
crous allusion to the number of the Twelve Represen- 

* u It was agreed," says Mr. Boston, when stating what was 
done at a meeting of the Marrow -men, as they were called, 
" that there should be a Representation to the Assembly about 
it," (viz. the condemnatory act) " the forming whereof was 
committed to Mr Ebenezer Erskine, with whom our draught 
was lodged for that effect ; and the revising of it, when formed, 
was committed to the Brethren in that country." Boston's 
Mem. p. 370. 

-|- See Appendix, No. X. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 237 



ters they had thought proper to propose,* were 
pleased, on the 21st of May 1722, to pass a large ex- 
planatory act relating to the same book, expressed in 
more measured terms than their act of 1720. Even 
this new act, however, contained several positions con- 
trary to sound doctrine ; it confirmed, in place of re- 
scinding the act complained of ; and the Twelve Breth- 
ren, instead of receiving the thanks of the House for 
their seasonable, mild, and respectful remonstrance, 
were solemnly rebuked and admonished. 

Nor was this the only castigation they met with. 
They were traduced in various publications as men of 
wild and Antinomian principles, — innovators in reli- 
gion, who published tenets opposite to the Confession of 
Faith and Catechisms, — enemies to Christian morality, 
— troublers of Israel, puffed up with vanity and arro- 
gance, and anxious to exalt themselves at the expense 
of their brethren. Similar reproaches were often cast 
on them from the pulpit by the dominant clergy of the 
age, particularly in sermons preached at the opening of 
Synods. Their unqualified submission, in fine, to the 

* It was not on this occasion only that the number of these 
faithful men was indecorously sported with by their antagonists. 
A still more memorable instance of the same playful humour was 
exhibited by a Committee of the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, 
in their strictures on the Rev. Gabriel Wilson's excellent sermon^ 
entitled The Trust, preached at the opening of that Synod at 
Kelso, October 17, 1721. " They drew up a charge," as we are 
informed in the Preface to that sermon, u consisting of twelve 
remarks, twelve questions, and twelve slanders ; for you must 
know that the number tivelve is what some wanton kirk- men 
have taken pleasure to sport themselves with of late, though some 
of them have discovered how ridiculously straitened they have 
been to find their account." 



238 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Acts of Assembly regarding the Marrow was urged 
with rigour ; and, in several instances, ill-founded com- 
plaints against their public discourses were presented 
before the church courts. 

Owing chiefly to the vehemence of Mr. Alex. Ander- 
son, and of Principal Haddow, of St. Andrews, whom 
Mr. Boston designates " the spring of that black act of 
Assembly,"* the five representing brethren belonging to 
the Synod of Fife,f were treated with peculiar severity. 
At several meetings of the Synod, they were denounced 
as transgressors, and questioned in the most rigorous and 
inquisitorial manner. At a meeting at Cupar in Sept. 
1721, some of Mr. Erskine's discourses were judicially 
complained of ; in particular, a sermon preached at Lar- 
go that year, from Psalm Ixxxix. 16. " In thy righte- 
ousness shall they be exalted ;" and another delivered 
on a fast-day before the administration of the Lord's 
Supper at Orwell, on Psalm cxxxviii. 6. " Though 
the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the 
lowly — ." The Synod at the same meeting, passed a 
violent act, purporting to detail the result of the inquiry 
instituted into the conduct of all these five brethren, with 
reference to the Act of Assembly 1720 respecting the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity; expressing "high dissatis- 
faction" at the liberties they had taken ; strictly enjoin- 

* Mem. p. 371. 

•f These were, besides the subject of this memoir, the Rev. 
James Hogg, Carnock; James Bathgate, Orwell; Ralph Erskine 
and James Wardlaw, Dunfermline. The other seven Represen- 
tors were the Rev. Gabriel Wilson, Henry Davidson, Thomas 
Boston, and William Hunter, of the Presbytery of Selkirk ; John 
Williamson, Inveresk ; J ames Kid, Queensferry ; and John Bo- 
nar, Torphichen, of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 239 



ing all the ministers of the Synod to observe that act ; 
and ordaining all of them to subscribe the formula en- 
joined by the 10th Act of Assembly 1711, — as "afresh 
evidence and document of their zeal for, and adherence 
to, the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of 
this church."* 

Mr. Erskine was not merely arraigned at the bar of 
a provincial Synod. He was afterwards accused before 
a court of still higher authority. In May 1725, Mr. 
Anderson, anxious to prevent his translation from Port- 
moak to a more conspicuous sphere in the church, pre- 
ferred heavy charges against him, in his absence, be- 
fore the Commission of the General Assembly. On 
different pretexts, he decried a number of his sermons, 
some of which had been preached ten years before ; 
and, at the same time, loaded him with various other 
accusations, partly frivolous, partly calumnious.-)- 

Under all these afflicting and irritating circumstan- 
ces, this faithful man was enabled to exercise a noble 
fortitude, united with Christian meekness and charity. 
He was accustomed to speak of the act 1720 as an 
oversight ; and, in fact, a great proportion of the mem- 
bers of Assembly that year, there is reason to conclude, 
possessed, at that time, little or no personal acquaint- 
ance with the vilified book, and were induced to ac- 
quiesce in the act, merely by the injurious and artful 
representations of the committee by whom the busi- 

* See the substance of this act in Gospel-Truth, p. 37* 
•j* These accusations are particularly stated and repelled by 
Mr. Erskine in " An Apologetical Preface" prefixed to the first 
edition of his sermon on Rev. iii. 4. published 1725 ; which was 
his first publication. 



240 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ness was prepared. Notwithstanding the protest which 
he and his brethren had taken, deference to ecclesias- 
tical authority led hirn to forbear publicly recommend- 
ing the work ; and even when he spoke favourably of it 
in private, he qualified his eulogy by telling the people 
that it contained some unguarded expressions. Towards 
i those clergymen, too, from whom he had experienced 
the most unjust and illiberal treatment, he manifested 
a gentle and forgiving spirit. Such is the temper ex- 
pressed in the following extract from a Preface to one 
of his published discourses : 

" As for that brother, [viz. Mr. Anderson,] although 
he endeavoured to do me much evil, God forbid that I 
should render evil for evil. I hope I have not so learn- 
ed Christ, who, both by precept and example, has taught 
us to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to 
do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that 
despitefully use us, and persecute us. A spirit of re- 
venge stands directly opposed to the spirit of the Gos- 
pel ; it usurps the room of the sovereign Judge of all 
the earth, who has asserted it as his prerogative, that 
vengeance is his, and he will repay it. And, therefore, 
far be it from me to meditate revenge against my bro- 
ther, by studying to support my character in the ruin 
of his. I hope, notwithstanding of the edge and keen- 
ness that seems to be upon his spirit against me and 
some others, God shall, in his own time, open his eyes 
and bring him to a better temper."* 

His attachment, nevertheless, to the truths condem- 

* Apolog. Pref. to Sermon on Rev. iii. 4. 1st ed. See a simi- 
lar passage in the Sermon on Ps. cxxxviii. 6. Head 5th. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



241 



ned by the acts of Assembly 1720 and 1722 remained 
unshaken. It is strikingly expressed in another para- 
graph of the same Preface :* 

" I bless God," says he, "I am so far from being 
shaken in that cause by attempts of this kind, [viz. to 
sully his character,] that I am rather more and more 
confirmed that the cause is the Lord's. I look upon it 
as a piece of the greatest honour that was ever put up- 
on me, that the Lord called me forth to lift up a ban- 
ner, or yet to suffer reproach for his precious truths, 
which, I am convinced, suffered so much injury by the 
Act condemnatory 1720, and the Act explicatory 1722 ; 
that as I live, so I desire to die in this hope, that when 
some of this generation, who were the principal authors, 
and are the principal supporters of these acts, are off 
the stage ; and when matters come to be impartially ex- 
amined by a succeeding generation, whose honour shall 
not be dipt in the support of these acts, the design of 
our petition to the Assembly, and of our prayer to God 
shall be answered in their being repealed, both as in- 
jurious to truth, and to the true honour of the Church 
of Scotland ; and that the children who are yet unborn 
shall praise the Lord, who stirred up any of this vene- 
ration to contend for injured truth, that it might be 
handed down to them in purity. . . . However 
truth may be borne down for a time, yet, at length it 
shall be brought forth unto victory ; and those who 
espouse its cause shall share in its triumphs. Rev. iii. 
10." 

That the same ardent love to the doctrine of grace 
continued to characterize him till the day of his death, 

* Pages viii — x. 
M 



242 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



is evident from the whole tenour of his subsequent con- 
duct, both while he remained a member of the Esta- 
blished Church, and after his secession. Zeal for this 
doctrine, indeed, was a chief cause of his open with- 
drawment from brethren by whom it was disregarded 
and impugned. The discourses of his advanced years 
bear ample testimony to his unabated delight in pure 
evangelical truth ; as his sermons on " the Lamp or- 
dained for God's anointed," delivered at the admission 
of Mr. Fisher at Glasgow in 1741 ; and on the Angel's 
seal set upon God's faithful servants," preached in 
Bristo-church, Edinburgh, 1742. In which of his dis- 
courses, we may ask, does he not discover his inflexible 
attachment to Marrow doctrine ? 

In the course of those keen discussions on this sub- 
ject, which took place at the meetings of ecclesiastical 
courts, expressions occasionally fell from his lips, which, 
for a time at least, overawed and confounded his op- 
ponents. Thus at a meeting of the Synod of Fife at 
Cupar, when some members had openly denied the 
Father's gift of Christ to sinners of the human family, 
he rose and said, " Moderator, our Lord Jesus says of 
himself, 6 My Father giveth you the true bread from 
heaven.' This he uttered to a promiscuous multitude ; 
and let me see the man who dares to affirm that he 
said wrong." This short speech, aided by the dignity 
and energy with which it was delivered, made an un- 
common impression on the members of Synod, and on 
all present.* 

* This anecdote was communicated to the Rev. J. Brown, of 
Whitburn, by the late Mr. Henry Thomson, St Andrews, an 
upright and excellent man, who was present at that meeting of 
Synod. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 243 

With respect to the charges preferred against his dis- 
courses by Mr. Anderson, whilst he disavowed such ex- 
pressions as were falsely or erroneously imputed to 
him, he never shrunk from asserting and maintaining 
those scriptural sentiments which he had really uttered. 
For his own vindication, too, he published the sermons 
objected to, being seven in number ; and in prefaces 
placed at their front in the first editions, he refuted the 
censures of his accusers. The wisdom of providence 
brightly appears in thus rendering those very imputa- 
tions, which wore so dark and ruinous an aspect to- 
wards him, the occasion of increasing his celebrity and 
extending his usefulness. To this providential arrange- 
ment, he himself devoutly adverts at the beginning of 
the Apologetical Preface referred to above, in the fol- 
lowing terms : 

" It is very probable that this and some other ser- 
mons now designed for the press, had slept in perpetual 
silence among my short-hand manuscripts, if holy and 
wise providence, which over-rules us in our designs and 
inclinations, had not, in a manner, forced me to yield 
to their publication, for my own necessary defence ; 
when the earnest entreaty of some, dear to the Lord, 
could not prevail with me to fall in with any such pro- 
posal. The conduct of adorable Providence in this 
matter has brought me under such a conviction of a 
culpable obstinacy in resisting their solicitations, that I 
sincerely resolve, through grace, not to be so shy in 
time coming ; especially if I find that these sermons, 
which are almost extorted from me, shall prove useful 
and edifying." 

The representing brethren in the county of Fife felt 



244 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



it no small hardship, that the Act of Synod mentioned 
above, required a new subscription of the Confession 
of Faith, as interpreted conformably to those Acts of 
Assembly 1720 and 1722, which, according to their 
views, were inimical to many precious truths. This 
annoyance proved the more grievous to Mr. Erskine, 
because, owing as much, at least, to the inattention of 
the Presbytery as to his own forgetfulness, he had not 
formally subscribed the Confession of Faith, agreeably 
to the usual practice, either at the time of receiving li- 
cense, or at his ordination. His accuser, who arraign- 
ed him before the Commission in the year 1725, found- 
ed one of his charges on this omission, and commented 
on it in very opprobrious terms. The accused minis- 
ter, however, candidly acknowledges, and satisfactorily 
accounts for the neglect, and clears himself from the 
aspersions cast upon his character. On this point the 
following extracts may suffice : 

" When I was licensed to preach the Gospel by the 
Reverend Presbytery of Kirkaldy, and likewise when I 
was ordained by them minister in this parish of Port- 
moak, I owned the Westminster Confession of Faith as 
the confession of my faith, together with the Cate- 
chisms, Larger and Shorter, compiled by that Assem- 
bly, as agreeable to, and founded upon, the sacred 
oracles of the Scriptures of truth ; promising solemnly 
before God, angels, and men, never to teach or preach 
any doctrine but what was agreeable thereunto. And 
having done this with my mouth, I could not miss to 
have all imaginable freedom to subscribe it also with my 
hand, without supposing me guilty of the vilest preva- 
rication, juggling and chicaning both with God and 
man ; the very thoughts of which do strike me with hor- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 245 



ror. But so it was that the book in which the rest of the 
Brethren had subscribed, not being offered me by the 
Clerk of the Presbytery, either when I was licensed or 
ordained ; and time passing on, it entirely slipt both 
the Presbytery's memory and mine — insomuch that, 
after that, neither they, (for ought I know,) nor I had 
the least jealousy but that I had actually subscribed it 
with the rest of the Brethren, till the affair of the Re- 
presentation of the Twelve Brethren against the fore- 
said condemnatory Act, 1720, came upon the field ; 
and then it began to be noised abroad that I was cer- 
tainly a man of unsound principles, in regard I had 
never signed the Confession of Faith, according to or- 
dinary form. So soon as this report came to my ears, 
I made so little doubt of my having subscribed, that I 
contradicted the report as false in fact, till I had occa- 
sion to inspect the Presbytery-book for my name, but 
could not find it.* I presently told the Presbytery of 
the omission, declaring that I had all imaginable free- 
dom instanter to subscribe it, protesting for the pri- 
vilege, which, however, was refused me ; because, as 
was alleged, but never yet proved, I differed in my sen- 
timents from the received principles of this Church, as- 
serted in the Confession of Faith."-|- 

After noticing the contrariety of the Act 1720 to 
some articles in the Confession ; describing the manner 
in which his sermons were censured at the meeting of 
Synod at Cupar in September 1721 ; and quoting the 

* As to this point then, the Minute of Presbytery, recording 
the circumstances of his ordination, was not strictly correct. See 
p. 75. 

-J- Apol. Pref. pp. x. xL 



246 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



consequent Act of Synod referred to above, he thus 
proceeds : 

" When this Act came to be put into execution by 
the Presbyteries, within whose bounds we resided, we 
did indeed decline to subscribe in obedience to the fore- 
said Act, because, according to our view of matters, 
our subscription would have inferred an approbation 
both of the unjust stigma with which it was prefixed, 
and likewise of the Act of Assembly 1720, against 
which we had represented as prejudicial to truth. But 
though we declined to subscribe in consequence unto the 
foresaid Act of Synod, yet we declared we had all ima- 
ginable freedom to subscribe the Confession of Faith, 
in obedience to the Acts of Assembly, in the sense of 
the compilers, and of the Assembly 1647, that received 
it ; and in the plain and common sense of the words, 
together with the Formula 1711. A declaration to this 
purpose, not in these very words, was given in to the 
next ordinary Synod, and subscribed by James Hogg, 
Ebenezer Erskine, Ralph Erskine, James Bathgate, and 
James Wardlaw. However, this was refused us, and 
the affair referred to the next Assembly. 
When I found that neither Presbytery nor Synod would 
allow me to subscribe the Confession of Faith, unless I 
did it in obedience to the foresaid Act of Synod, I took 
the opportunity to subscribe it at home, with the Elders 
of my Congregation, March 4, 1723. I made intima- 
tion of this both to the Presbytery and Synod, when 
the first occasion offered ; that none might have a handle 
to represent that I startled at the Standards of our 
Church, or maintained principles inconsistent there- 
with."* 

* Apol. Pref. pp. xviii. xix. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 247 



The greater part of the circumstances, thus minutely 
detailed by Mr. Erskine, are expressly confirmed by 
the Records of Kirkaldy Presbytery ; in particular, by 
a minute, dated Dec. 14, 1721 ; which, however, it 
might seem quite superfluous to quote. From these 
Records it also appears, that the omitting, from inad- 
vertency or forgetfulness, on the part of the court or 
of individuals concerned, of the formal subscription 
of the Confession, was not peculiar to the minister of 
Portmoak. When the list of subscribers was examined 
on Sept. 21, 1721, similar omissions were found, lessor 
more, to attach to other five ministers of the same Pres- 
bytery. On this point we have only further to state, that 
after the lapse of several years, and, probably, in conse- 
quence of mutual explanations, Mr. Erskine's subscrip- 
tion was actually given in the presence of the Presby- 
tery; for a minute, dated March 19, 1730, contains the 
following sentence : " This day Mr. Erskine subscribed 
the Confession of Faith and Formula." 

Another circumstance was turned to his reproach. 
With a design, as it should seem, to load him at once 
with the double charge of contempt for the authority 
of the king, and for the doctrines and decisions of the 
Church, his Reverend accuser informed the Commis- 
sion of Assembly 1725, that he had neglected to ob- 
serve some of the Fasts and Thanksgivings appointed 
by government, and had judicially adhered to a repre- 
sentation on this subject laid before the Synod of Fife 
by the Rev. Mr. Hogg. The fact is, that Mr. Hogg 
and he, with some other members of that Synod, enter- 
tained conscientious scruples relative to such appoint- 
ments, when the Church of Scotland was required by 



248 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



royal proclamation to observe a Fast or Thanksgiving 
on " the superstitious fast and feast-days mentioned in 
the Calendar of the Church of England." They could 
not keep those appointments, they thought, without 
" incurring the guilt of countenancing the Church of 
England, in her symbolizing with the idolatrous Church 
of Rome in the observation of holidays ;" and, at the 
same time, they were not without apprehensions that 
such coincidencies were intended by some of the Eng- 
lish bishops, who were members of the Privy Council, 
as a means of gradually preparing the people of Scot- 
land for submission to the yoke of ceremonies practised 
in the English Church. Mr. Erskine admits, that for 
these reasons, and " to avoid offences," — when a public 
Thanksgiving was ordered to be held on Thursday, 
April 22, 1723, that Thursday being St. Mark's day, 
and the only feast-day in the whole month, he had call- 
ed his parishioners to hold the Thanksgiving on the 
Wednesday immediately preceding instead of the Thurs- 
day. He rebuts the charge of disloyalty, however, in 
the fol 1 owing terms : 

" I ray daily for his majesty by name. I did it un- 
der tL very nose of the Pretender and his adherents 
in the time of the late rebellion, and gave greater in- 
stances of my loyalty at that time to his present Ma- 
jesty than some others, who now, in a time of peace, are 
ready to charge me with disloyalty." — " To conclude 
this point," he adds, " there was never a Fast or Thanks- 
giving appointed by the Judicatories of this Church 
these twenty-three years since I was a minister, but I 
have observed them as punctually as any Brother in 
the Church, and I resolve to do so still. And as for 
those appointed by civil authority, if they be appointed 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 249 



without distinction of days, or confining us in Scotland 
to the Fast and Feast-days of the Church of England ; 
or if they would but appoint a Fast-day upon one of 
their Feast-days, by which we may know there is no 
design in the case, it is my resolution to observe them 
also : it being my stated principle, that the State as 
well as the Church may appoint Fasts and Thanksgiv- 
ings for just and necessary causes ; and that the power 
of the one is not at all privative of the other ; — although 
indeed it were most eligible that both Church and State 
should jointly concur in matters of that kind."* 

Whether this bold defender of evangelical doctrine 
were attacked openly or under a disguise, he was pre- 
pared to sustain the assault with manly and Christian 
resolution. During the sitting of the General Assem- 
bly in May 1726, an anonymous pamphlet appeared, 
entitled " Marrow Chicaning Displayed ;" the object of 
which was to expose him to ridicule and contempt, 
by false allegations and gross abuse. To frustrate, in 
some degree, its mischievous design, he caused a short 
" Advertisement" to be printed and affixed to the cross 
of Edinburgh, the gates of the Assembly-house, and 
other public places, challenging the author of that scur- 
rilous production to come forth from his hiding-place 
and answer for himself, if he could dare to set his face 
to the gross misrepresentations and bitter invectives it 
contained. Alluding also to this dastardly attack on 
his character, he thus expresses himself in a Preface 
to one of his sermons : 

" The world cannot miss to see that this author's 



Apol. Pref. pp. xxii, xxvii. 



250 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



performance looks like the last effort of a desperate 
cause, founded upon the old Machiavelian principle, 
* Reproach boldly, and something will stick.' . . . 
When I joined with my Representing Brethren in lift- 
ing up the banner of truth, I studied, through grace, to 
lay my ministry, my name, and worldly all, at the 
Lord's feet, accounting for the worst that either hell or 
earth could do me on that head; and, therefore, such 
blasts of calumny are no surprise to me. I did indeed 
enjoy something of a calm, while that worthy servant 
of Christ, Mr. James Bathgate, lived, the flood of re- 
proach having run principally against him in these 
bounds ; but no sooner was he called off the stage, but 
I found the storm breaking on me. I do own, since 
that time the archers have shot at me, and grieved me, 
and perhaps wounded my character with some. But I 
do rejoice that the bow of divine truth abides in its 
strength ; I do believe that . it shall abide so, by the 
hands of the mighty God of Jacob, even though some 
who own it may be separated from their brethren, and 
held for signs and wonders in Israel. To suffer re- 
proach for the cause of Christ and his truth, I reckon 
not only an ornament but a treasure ; and the author 
of the above pamphlet has clone me, I conceive, a par- 
ticular honour in directing his calumnious letter to me ; 
and I do bind every scoff and calumny in it as a chain 
of gold about me — glorying that I, in particular, am ac- 
counted worthy to suffer reproach in so glorious a 
cause ; whatever he, or others, actuated with the same 
spirit, may think of it."* 

To discuss the various questions contested in the 
* Gospel-Truth, pp. 55, 56. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



251 



Marrow Controversy, or to dwell largely on the re- 
flexions which it naturally suggests, would be equally 
foreign to our present design. Before leaving this sub- 
ject, however, we may briefly remark that, in the whole 
history of the Church, few instances have occurred, in 
which a dispute on doctrinal points has been either con- 
ducted with greater heat and violence, or more pal- 
pably over-ruled for salutary purposes. Mrs. Balder- 
ston, in an entry of her Diary, dated May 21, 1722, 
thus alludes to the extraordinary warmth which then 
characterized the debates of the Assembly. " Such a 
storm of hail, fire, thunder, none could remember. In- 
deed, there was a mighty storm in the Assembly that 
day." This controversy, however, which occasioned 
those vehement and stormy discussions, led many to a 
careful study of the points at issue, and has been emi- 
nently subservient to the illustration, preservation, and 
spread of evangelical truth. 

The same ardent attachment to the peculiar doctrines 
of divine revelation, which the subject of these memoirs 
displayed, in reference to the contest that originated in 
the condemnation of the Marrow, was discovered on 
occasion of the controversy relating to the proper Di- 
vinity of Christ. Several years before any minister 
of the Church of Scotland was accused of denying this 
capital article of the Christian faith, it had been openly 
impugned in England and Ireland. The heresy com- 
menced in England. The discoveries of Sir Isaac 
Newton, with the writings of Des Cartes and Locke, 
had then effected an astonishing revolution in the re- 
gions of philosophy and science. A spirit of free in- 
quiry being thus excited, some theologians indulged in 



252 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



bold speculations on the most sacred topics ; and for- 
getting that, when the divine origin of Scripture is es- 
tablished, it belongs to man to acquiesce without gain- 
saying in its most mysterious and incomprehensible 
doctrines, they proceeded to constitute their own erring 
reason the supreme judge of truth, and to bring every 
religious principle to its bar, to be received or rejected 
according to its sovereign decision. Owing to this 
daring speculative spirit, added to a false candour and 
liberality of sentiment, which many professed Christ- 
ians seemed proud to express, the Arian tenets were 
not only revived, but powerfully patronised, and ex- 
tensively propagated. By means of the writings of 
Professor Winston, of Cambridge, and Dr. Samuel 
Clarke, who broached these errors during the reign of 
Queen Anne, Arianism was widely disseminated, not 
only in the English Establishment, but among the 
Dissenters. The zeal with which it was maintained, 
or the indulgence it met with, in various Academies 
where young men received an education for the minis- 
try, — in particular, the Academy at Exeter, under the 
superintendence of Haller — served greatly to extend 
the mischief. The Rev. Thomas Bradbury and others 
exerted themselves zealously to stem the torrent of de- 
fection ; but their laudable efforts, though not entirely 
fruitless, were attended only with partial success. 

The mournful intelligence of the rapid diffusion of 
this pernicious error in England pressed heavily on the 
minds of faithful ministers in Scotland, and created 
strong apprehensions of the danger to which their own 
church was exposed from the same spreading leaven. 
The following letter from Mr. Erskine to a friend in 
Edinburgh, written shortly after looking into some of 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 253 

the Arian publications which had come in his way, is 
a valuable specimen of this pious concern. It is con- 
tained in his Diary, under date February 2, 1721 : 

" At this present time I have written a Letter to Mr. 
George Andrew, merchant in the Boiv, Edinburgh, the 
tenor whereof follows : 

" Dear Sir, 

" This comes to salute you, your spouse, 
and children — wishing much of the Father's love, of the 
Son's grace, and of the Spirit's comforts may be upon 
you and yours, whereby you may be made to flourish 
like the palm tree ; concerning which some tell us that 
sub ponders crescit. * 

" We cannot expect exemption from trials while in 
this Bochim ; but it is little the hazard, if by the sap and 
fatness of the good olive, we be made to grow and 
thrive under them. For my own part, I have nothing 
good to say of myself, being a very compound of sin 
and misery. I may set to my seal to that of the Apos- 
tle, 6 In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good 
thing.' But though I can say nothing that is good of 
myself, I can say nothing but what is good of our won- 
derful Immanuel. He is always like a new Christ, 
every time he appears ; and therefore this will always 
be a new song, 4 Thanks be unto God for his unspeak- 
able gift.' 

" I have had occasion of late to read some of the 
blasphemous pamphlets of the upstart Arians in Eng- 
land, denying, with the greatest air of assurance, the 
true and proper Deity of the Son of God, and bringing 
him, in effect, among the ranks of creatures, and pre- 



* It grows under a weight. 



254 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



tending to support all they say with Scripture. I was 
at first struck with horror when I read them ; and you 
may be sure the tempter, who had the impudence to 

say to himself. i If thou be the Son of God ,' would 

not want the confidence to say to me, 6 What if it be as 
Arians say, that he is not truly God, co-equal with the 
Father ?' I saw plainly that the heresy struck at the 
very vitals of Christianity, and sapped the very founda- 
tion of any comfort I have had in the discoveries which 
the Lord has given me of the excellency of the Re- 
deemer's person. But blessed be his name he relieved 
me by telling me, and I hope discovering to me, that 
' all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him;' 
and that the blessed Child that is born unto us is < the 
Mighty God,' and therefore the same in substance, and 
equal in power and glory with the Father ; and that < he 
that hath seen the Son, hath seen the Father also ;' he 
being < the brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person.' I am so fully satisfied, in a word, 
anent the eternal Deity of our glorious Redeemer and 
his equality and one-ness with his Father, that I dare 
hazard my share in heaven upon the truth of it. What- 
soever clouds and mists may arise out of the bottomless 
pit, to obscure the glory of the worthy Lamb of God, 
shall in the issue serve only as a foil to make his beauty 
shine with the greater lustre, like the sun breaking out 
from under a cloud. He shall be the head-stone of the 
corner, however he be disparaged by some builders in 
our day. His cause shall stand against the utmost ef- 
forts of the gates of hell ; and therefore let us join in a 
hallelujah to him, saying, 6 The Lord liveth, blessed be 

my rock ; let the God of my salvation be exalted." 

Actuated by holy zeal for the truth, he did not deem 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



255 



it sufficient thus to express his sentiments and feelings 
in private correspondence with his friends, but used his 
humble endeavours to persuade the General Assembly 
to emit a seasonable warning against the Arian error. 
It very naturally occurred to him that a measure o f 
this description might conduce, by the Divine blessing, 
to check the progress of the heresy, and to strengthen 
the hands of those esteemed brethren in England and 
Ireland, who were nobly contending for the truth in 
opposition to its enemies around them. To every one 
that admires the glory of the Divine Saviour, that feels 
the importance of an atonement for sin possessing un- 
bounded value and efficacy, or who at all " knows the 
love of Christ which passeth knowledge," the following 
extract from the Records of the Session of Portmoak 
can hardly fail to appear, at least in its spirit and tenor, 
highly creditable to that Session, and to its Moderator, 
by whom, most probably, the overture was prepared 
and proposed : 

" Overture anent the Supreme Deity of our Re- 
deemer. 

" Portmoak^ March 1725. Several members of Ses- 
sion having proposed that a plain and open Testimony 
should be given by this church against the Arian here- 
sy, which is so pernicious, and which, like a raging pes- 
tilence, has infected many of all ranks in our neighbour- 
ing nations, whereby the Supreme Deity of our blessed 
Redeemer and his co-equality with the Father are called 
in question, — the Session, taking this into considera- 
tion, and considering that they are one of the radical 
judicatories of this Church, met and constituted in the 
name and by the authority of the Eternal Son of God, 
our alone Head and King ; and judging that they were 



256 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



obliged, for their own exoneration before God and 
their own consciences to cherish the above motion, in 
as far as they can, and to transmit it as an Overture to 
the superior judicatories of this Church till it come to 
the National Assembly, that so a banner may be lifted 
up and displayed by the Church of Scotland in opposi- 
tion to these pretended Protestants in neighbouring 
nations, who by this damnable heresy are attempting to 
take away the bright jewel of our Redeemer's crown, 
and to bring him, even as to his divine nature, in 
among the ranks of created beings ; whereby his glory 
is obscured, and the foundation of our holy religion, 
and of the eternal comfort and salvation of those who 
believe in him, is overturned. Although we hope 
there are none in our national Church as yet tainted 
with this abominable heresy, yet considering that, like 
a spreading gangrene, it has for some years been rag- 
ing among our neighbours, and that all imaginable 
precaution ought to be used for preventing the conta- 
gion from breaking in among us ; which we have the 
more reason to fear, that so many of our nobility and 
gentry are resorting to and residing in London, 
where that heresy has been broached and propagated. 
As also considering that many who are of the Presby- 
terian persuasion in England and Ireland are reported 
to be tainted therewith, whom we are obliged by the 
law of charity to reprove that we may not surfer sin 
upon them, and may not be partakers of their sin. — 
And considering that by the Solemn League, on which 
we look as binding on us, we are obliged to endeavour 
their reformation as much as in us lies ; and that if we 
in this Church stand neutral when there is such an 
open attack upon our Redeemer's crown, he may be 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 257 

provoked to suffer the same heresy to break in like an 
inundation on us also. — Considering also that it has been 
the peculiar glory of this Church of Scotland to contend 
even unto blood for the royalties of the King of Zion, 
we are very hopeful she will not now sit silent, when 
the crown is in a manner plucked from his head. And 
who knows but the great God our Saviour may honour 
this Church to be 6 terrible as an army with banners' 
to the enemies of his supreme and eternal Deity, when 
she attempts to lift up a banner for him. And we are 
hopeful that our worthy and orthodox brethren in 
these neighbouring nations, who are valiant for the 
truth, and contending earnestly for the faith once deli- 
vered to the saints, shall have their hearts and hands 
animated and strengthened, when they see this our 
Church coming in as an auxiliary to ' the help of the 
Lord against the mighty.' That same God who crowned 
Athanasius, in the primitive ages, when standing for the 
supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, when the 
whole world turned Arian, will, we hope, countenance 
a Testimony from this Church for suppressing that old 
condemned heresy, lately raked out of hell. 

" Upon all these considerations, we do transmit the 
consideration of this important and w r eighty affair to 
the Reverend Presbytery of Kirkcaldy, earnestly en- 
treating them to move it to the next Synod, in order to 
be transmitted to the National Assembly, for the end 
foresaid." 

The minute of Kirkaldy Presbytery, dated March 
18, 1725, contains a short and general notice of some 
communication from Portmoak, the consideration of 
which was deferred. Probably it was just this Over- 
ture regarding the Deity of Christ, agreed to by the 



258 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Session of that parish in the same month. We have 
not discovered, however, any subsequent allusion to it 
in the Records of Presbytery ; nor are we aware that 
any such act, as the said Overture contemplated, was 
ever passed by the General Assembly, previous to the 
Act 1730 for preventing the spread of error, which had 
not only been so long deferred, but was expressed in 
so vague and general terms, that it was far from giving 
satisfaction to the zealous friends of the truth. 

Mean time, soon after the date of the Overture from 
Portmoak, the whole Church was agitated by reports 
respecting the appearance of Arian doctrine in the 
Theological chair of the University of Glasgow, and by 
the process commenced by " that great man," as Bos- 
ton calls him, Mr. James Webster of Edinburgh, 
against the Rev. John Simson, on that ground. More 
than ten years before, the same Mr. Simson, who had 
long been Professor of Theology in that University, 
was judicially accused by Mr. Webster of teaching se- 
veral erroneous principles.* But though the libel was 
fully proved, and though most of its articles were ad- 
mitted by the Professor himself in his answers, the As- 
sembly were satisfied with declaring " 6 that sortie of his 
opinions were not evidently founded in the word of 
God, nor necessary to be taught in Divinity,' and pro- 

* " This was the noted case," says Mr. Crichton, " of Mr. 
John Simpson, Professor of Divinity at Glasgow, who was ac- 
cused of teaching and preaching heretical doctrines, for which, 
by appointment of the Synod of Lothian, he was libelled by Mr. 
James Webster." Life and Diary of Col. Blackader, ch. xx. 
This appointment of the Synod of Lothian was confirmed by the 
Assembly, 1714. See Struth. Hist, of Scot. vol. i. book 2, p. 
206. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



259 



hibiting him him from publishing such sentiments in 
future."* 

Emboldened by this very gentle sentence, the Pro- 
fessor proceeded to entertain his students with doc- 
trines still more flagrantly heretical. After compli- 
cated and tedious proceedings which occupied the at- 
tention of the judicatories for several years, it was 
found clearly proved, that he had denied the necessary 
existence and supreme Deity of Christ, and the nume- 
rical oneness of the Three Persons in the Godhead. In 
the year 1729, the General Assembly, after a discus- 
sion of eight days, came to a final decision on this im- 
portant cause. Though a sentence of deposition was 
generally expected, and had been urged by the greater 
number of the Presbyteries, whose sentiments on the 
subject had been formally requested, Mr. Simson was 
not deposed, but merely suspended from teaching and 
preaching, and thus permitted to enjoy both the privi- 
leges of church communion and the emoluments of his 
office, which accordingly he retained till the year 1744, 
when he was removed by death. 

Mr. Boston of Ettrick having, with singular intrepi- 
dity, dissented from this lenient sentence, Mr. Erskine, 
though not then a member of Assembly, expressed his 
cordial approbation of the dissent. He only regretted 
that his learned and godly friend was prevailed with 
not to insist on his dissent being entered on the records 
of the court, for the honour of Christ and the instruc- 
tion of posterity. He blamed himself too for a similar 

* Testimony of the Unit. Assoc. Syn. Part i. ch. 3. See 
also A Testimony to the Truths of Christ by the Asso. Syn. of 
Original Seceders, part i. sect. 8. 



260 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



omission. At a meeting of the Associate Presbytery 
held at Culfargie, July 28, 1736, the four Brethren 
deemed it incumbent on them to make a solemn con- 
fession of their faults to one another with reference to 
the defects of Christian courage which had attached to 
their conduct respectively on occasion of the unexpected 
leniency characterizing the termination of that process. 
After an ample account of the candid acknowledgment 
of culpable remissness made by Mr. MoncriefF of Aber- 
nethy, and the brotherly admonition consequently ad- 
ministered, the Presbytery's minute of that date con- 
contains the following statement : 

" Mr. Erskine acknowledged that although he ad- 
hered unto the protestation that was offered against the 
foresaid decision by the late Rev. Mr. Thomas Boston, 
yet that it was his sin, that he did not urge the mark- 
ing of it, when it was insisted upon. The Presbytery, 
taking the above acknowledgment into their considera- 
tion, agreed to admonish, exhort, and encourage their 
brother to more dependence upon, and steadfastness in 
the cause and testimony of the Lord in time to come ; 
y» -iich was done accordingly." * 

One of his sermons, in manuscript, includes an ex- 
plicit acknowledgment to the same effect ; and his pub- 
lished discourses afford sufficient evidence that he gave 
solemn and repeated warnings to his hearers, to beware 
lest any man rob them of the precious doctrine of the 
Saviour's Divinity, f 

* Extracted from the original Record of the Assoc. Presb. 
written by the Rev. James Fisher, their Clerk. 

■J- See for example the first inference in the sermon on Exod. 
xx. 2, 3, and the first inference in the discourse on lsa. lxiii. 4. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



261 



Were we to adopt the lax notions held by many in 
the present age, we should consider, we are well aware, 
every bold appearance in behalf of even the most es- 
sential truths of Christianity as calculated, not to 
heighten, but to lower the character of any man ; not 
excepting those, who, by their office, are " set for the 
defence of the Gospel." The same writers who can 
style the venerable Mr. Webster an " enthusiast" and 
a " zealous inquisitor" for his active efforts to give a 
check to pernicious error, and who can affirm that " he 
persecuted Mr. Simpson with the most unrelenting se- 
verity," must no doubt despise the zeal discovered by 
Mr. Erskine and other evangelical ministers, and by 
the majority of the Presbyteries of the Church of Scot- 
land, in the same cause. The contempt of such au- 
thors, however, is a real honour to those on whose me- 
mory it is thrown. 

Let the genuine philosopher judge whether it be an 
inconsiderable mistake, even in the eye of reason, to 
degrade to the rank of dependent creatures a person 
possessing eternal godhead, and entitled to the highest 
Divine honours. Let the candid reader of the Scrip- 
tures say, if it is of small moment to ascertain whether 
that great personage, whose character and work it is 
the principal object of that inestimable volume to ex- 
hibit, be represented by the Prophets and Apostles, 
and by the Messiah himself, as nothing higher than a 
created intelligence, or as truly " God manifest in 
flesh." Let the serious inquirer, who feels the im- 
portance of eternity, calmly determine the question, 
whether his immortal soul may be entrusted, through 
life and at death, to an individual who is merely a most 



262 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



excellent man or a glorious angel ; or whether this sa- 
cred deposit can be safely committed only to one who 
is in reality " the mighty God," and whose name is 
" Jehovah our Righteousness." Let the conscientious 
worshipper decide how far it accords with propriety and 
consistency, that those who deem it a very important 
and a necessary duty to ascribe Divine honours to 
Christ, and those who regard the ascription of such 
honours to him as an act of downright idolatry, should 
belong to the same church, and unite in the same de- 
votional engagements. Let " all those that love our 
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" declare, if their love 
and veneration for the Saviour can permit them to 
countenance the efforts of the men who tear the crown 
of divine glory from his head, and cast it to the dust. 
Let the man of common integrity, in fine, determine 
whether the emoluments and honours of any church 
should be lavished on persons who either openly or co- 
vertly assail the leading doctrines by which that church 
is distinguished, and which its members have solemnly 
vowed to maintain. 

The policy by which civil rights and privileges are 
withheld from any class of society, purely on the 
ground of their sentiments in religion, may be ques- 
tionable, or iniquitous and absurd. But in whatever 
light that policy be viewed, the Churches of Christ are 
bound by the highest authority to keep the command- 
ments of God and the testimony of Jesus, and to cut off 
from their communion those by whom gross heresies 
are openly and pertinaciously maintained ; and it is in- 
cumbent on every individual Christian to contend ear- 
nestly for the truth, and to discountenance those by 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKXNE. 263 



whom it is opposed. " If there come any unto you 
and bring not this doctrine," says that affectionate dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved, " receive him not into your 
house, neither bid him God-speed ; for he that biddeth 
him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds." 3d John 
10, II. 



264 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER VI. 

Personal and domestic afflictions at Portmoak — Death of three 
sons, and of a sister — Mr. Erskine himself seized with a dan- 
gerous fever — Improvement of trials, and their happy fruits — 
Death of the Rev. Mr. Plenderleath — Affliction, death, and 
character of Mrs. Erskine — Brother Ralph's sympathy — De- 
cease of Mr. Balderston — Letters to Mrs. Balderston — Death 
of one daughter, and recovery of another — Inscription on Mrs. 
Erskine's tomb. 

The subjects which now claim our attention, though 
more private in their character than those of the two 
chapters immediately preceding, will be regarded with 
equal interest by the Christian reader. With whatever 
satisfaction and respect we behold the good minister of 
Christ proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation in the 
pulpit, or vindicating the cause of injured truth " among 
assembled elders," it is still more pleasing to see him, 
in the bosom of his family, exemplifying the amiable 
virtues of domestic life. The zeal and magnanimity 
displayed on the conspicuous arena of ecclesiastical 
controversy may justly entitle him to veneration and 
gratitude ; but the meek submission with which he en- 
dures the visitations most agonizing to the heart of a 
husband and a parent, and the pious solicitude with 
which he improves every personal and family affliction 
as a means of increasing at once his own spiritual im- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



265 



provement and his public usefulness, give him a firmer 
hold of our tender and affectionate regard. 

His own record enables us not only to detail some 
remarkable vicissitudes which occurred in his family 
during his ministry at Portmoak, but also to exhibit 
authentic and edifying memorials of their blessed ef- 
fects on his temper and conduct. 

In a former part of this work we had occasion briefly 
to notice a dangerous fever he was seized with shortly 
after his settlement at Portmoak, and previous to the 
momentous change which took place in his views and 
character.* In the year 1711, he was afflicted with 
another serious, though somewhat lingering, illness. 
But, far from discovering the same insensibility which 
he represents as characterizing the state of his mind 
under that violent distemper, he now felt a deep con- 
cern respecting his destiny in the eternal world, and 
was anxious to possess a well-founded hope of salva* 
tion, 

« P. Feb. 21, 1711, about 3 o'clock p. m. I am at 
this time in great perplexity about the Lord's hiding. 
I have been ill two months. My body is brought low, 
and I am beginning to think of my latter end as ap^- 
proaching. But oh ! how shall I look death in the 
face, if the Lord do not give me his presence in the 
dark valley. I am afraid that matters are not right 
with me ; but when I begin to look back on what has 
formerly passed between Him and my soul, I would 
fain entertain hopes that I have some of his love-tokens 
with me. But will the Lord forget to be gracious ? 



* Ch. ii. pp. 85, 86. 

N 



266 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Will he in anger shut up his tender mercy ? O that 
he would again return to me !" 

Soon after the date of this entry, he was mercifully 
recovered from his threatening illness ; for, when a few 
weeks had elapsed, he assisted the Rev. Mr. Grier, of 
Edinburgh, in administering the Lord's Supper. In 
the year 1713, however, he not merely experienced a 
renewal of personal infirmities, but was severely tried 
by the sore afflictions, and the lamented deaths, of a 
great proportion of his children. Both measles and 
small-pox entered the family ; and no less than three 
dear sons were torn from the embraces of their affec- 
tionate parents — Ralph, his fourth son, on the 23d 
April, in the 2d year of his age ; Henry, the eldest, 
June 8th, in his 9th year ; and Alexander, the second 
son, on the 20th of the same month, at the age of five. 

The following entries of his Diary, written on these 
mournful occasions, whilst they abundantly indicate the 
intensity of his natural and sanctified feelings as a fa- 
ther, are strongly expressive of Christian resignation 
and hope, and manifest the salutary effects of the rod 
upon his heart. To parents who have themselves ex- 
perienced similar anguish in beholding the painful dis- 
eases and premature deaths of their lovely babes, they 
can hardly fail to prove particularly interesting and be- 
neficial. 

"April 27, 1713, being Monday. My dear, sweet, 
and pleasant child, Ralph, died on Thursday, last week, 
about a quarter after 7 in the morning. His death was 
very grievous and affecting to my wife and me ; but 
good is the will of the Lord. He takes and gives ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord. My dear child died 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 267 



of the measles, which did appear to come fully out ; 
but no sooner were they at the height, but they did 
strike in again to his heart. That which I think me- 
morable about his death is, — 1. The affecting trouble 
my dear babe was brought into. For about twenty- 
four hours before he died, he was exceedingly tortured 
with flatulency in his stomach. ... 2. Having sent 
off my servant to Kirkaldy, as he returned, he came 
in by Mr. Curries house about 8 p. m. and there Mr. 
John Frew, being informed of the providence in my 
family, immediately came off, and stayed with me all 
that night. His company was most refreshing and 
comfortable to me and my wife. Mr. Frew and each 
of us prayed three or four times before the child died ; 
my dear friend, Mr. Frew, was wonderfully helped to 
pray for the child. 3. About half an hour before the 
child's breath went out, he felt perfectly calm, and was 
relieved from the sore tossings he had, and being laid 
down on his back in the cradle, his eye appeared quick 
and lively, his countenance serene and pleasant. He 
looked round upon the company with his eyes, some- 
times casting them up towards heaven, as if nothing had 
ailed him. An air of heaven and glory appeared in 
his very face, and his countenance, in a manner, thus 
addressed the spectators : ' Now farewell father and 
mother, farewell brother and sisters, farewell friends 
and spectators ; now I am at ease, I behold glorious 
Christ, glorious angels, receiving me into their abodes 
of joy. Farewell weary world ; welcome Christ, welcome 
heaven, welcome angels, welcome the spirits of just men 
made perfect/ His countenance invited all that beheld 
him to follow him to glory, and to prepare for that 
inheritance he was going to. 4. After his breath was 



268- 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



gone and his body swathed, the company having taken 
a little refreshment, I was called to return thanks, which 
I did ; but, towards the end, when I came to take no- 
tice of the present providence, that God had plucked 
one of the sweet flowers of the family, my heart burst 
out into tears, so that I was able to go no further. 5. I 
find that since the death of the child, my soul has been 
more quickened in the way of duty than formerly, more 
lively in prayer, more resolute to follow the Lord, and 
to cleave to him. I find that I needed this spur of af- 
fliction to excite me to my duty ; and it has made me 
more importunate with God on behalf of my poor child 
Henry who is a-dying, these four or five months, of a 
decay." 

"July 1, 1713. Since the last time I have here 
marked, I have been sadly, sadly afflicted with the loss 
of other two pleasant children. My dear child, Henry 
Erskine, my first-born, having died by the wiH of God ? 
June 8th, being Monday, about 2 o'clock in the after- 
noon—about eight years of age. He took his disease 
with the measles, about half a year ago, in Dunferm- 
line, which did cast him into a decay ; and having 
brought him home, the small-pox came into the family, 
which carried him off about two or three days after the 
height. Pie was a blooming, pleasant, child ; and, ac- 
cording to his age, had an excellent capacity, was pro- 
fiting exceedingly in his learning, and knew many of 
the fundamentals of religion above many of his age. 
While he lay on his sick-bed, I frequently conversed 
with him about the affairs of his soul ; and he gave me 
great satisfaction by expressing a desire for Christ, and 
a desire to be with him rather than with father and 
mother, and friends and relations, here in this world. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 269 

And that same day that he died, he frequently desired 
me to pray with him, and would frequently cry out, 
when he saw me ; 6 O ! father, father, pray, pray, pray 
for me P And I thought it observable that, although 
all the day he died, he was almost continually raving ; 
yet, about half an hour before his death, having desired 
me to pray, he lay perfectly calm and silent during the 
whole time of prayer. All these things I take as 
grounds of hope that my sweet Henry is now praising, 
and triumphing with Christ in glory. Both my sister, 
Mrs. B alders ton, and Catharine Lockhart, another 
Christian, living about two miles from this, told me 
that they got great assurances of his life ; which I, in 
charity, think has been of his eternal life, though they 
had understood it of a temporal. 

" Upon the 20th day of June, being Saturday, about 
4 in the morning, the Lord was pleased to take away 
from me another pleasant pledge, a child of five years 
of age, his name Alexander. My affections were ex- 
ceedingly knit to him, and I was comforting myself in 
having him, after his brother Henry's death ; but it 
seems the Lord will not allow me to settle my affections 
■on any thing here below. I cannot express the grief 
of my heart for the loss of this child, the other two 
strokes being so late. — I thought I got faith exercised 
on his behalf upon that word of Christ, 6 Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven.' The Lord inclined my 
heart to bring my sweet child unto him, and I could 
not allow myself to doubt but he would accept of him. 
The Lord make me content with his dispensations, and 
give me the sanctified use of these repeated breaches 



270 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



that he has made upon my poor family. I hope to be 
gathered unto Christ with my little ones ere long. I 
have had a sore parting ; but they and I, I hope, shall 
have a joyful meeting. They will welcome me to those 
mansions of glory above ; and they and I, with all the 
ransomed on Mount Zion, will join in an eternal hymn 
and hallelujah of praise unto Him that sitteth on the 
throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. O to be 
ready and meet for that inheritance. O to have sanc- 
tification perfected, that I may be fit for the work which 
my pleasant babes are now employed in. If I get the 
eternal Son of God into my heart, I will not be at a loss 
for my three sons that are gone. O Lord, let me find 
upmaking in thyself. I am content to be bereaved of all 
I have in the world, if thou wilt give me thyself as my 
sure portion. I will wait for the Lord, and he will 
strengthen my heart. I dare not deny that he has 
given secret supporting grace ; otherwise these deep 
waters had come into my soul, and utterly overwhelmed 
me." 

A few months after the death of his three dear boys, 
he lost another relative to whom he was tenderly at- 
tached — a sister, who had resided for some time at 
Dunfermline with her brother Ralph, and who died 
there in the month of October. The genuine fraternal 
affection and sympathy felt by the two brothers towards 
a dying sister, and their assiduous care to promote her 
eternal welfare, are apparent in the following artless 
and affecting detail. 

"P. Thursday, Oct. 8, 1713, about 6 p.m. Having 
been waiting on the Synod [probably at Cupar] last 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



271 



week, my brother Ralph and I were sent for by ex- 
press, on Wednesday, to see my dear sister ,* 

who, having been ill, fell worse that day, which made 
my mother send for us. Accordingly, we came and 
found her very ill. I stayed with her at Dunfermline 
from Wednesday till Saturday, last week, during which 
time I had several conversations with her about soul- 
matters. I endeavoured to recommend Christ to her, 
and the way of salvation through him ; to which she 
seemed to give a very cheerful and willing consent, ex- 
pressing a great and earnest longing after a discovery 
of the covenant by the Spirit of the Lord, which she 
said she much needed." 

Mr. Erskine then gives an account of his coming 
home on the Saturday, and engaging, at Mr. Ward- 
rope's request, who was indisposed, to preach at Bal- 
lingry instead of Portmoak. On Sabbath morning he 
received a letter, informing him that his sister was ap- 
parently about to expire ; but resolved to fulfil his en- 
gagement at Ballingry. Having stated the grounds of 
this resolution, he thus proceeds : — " After sermon was 
over, my wife and I went down to Dunfermline that 
same day. It pleased the Lord that we found her 
alive, though very weak ; for she died not till Monday 
this week, a quarter after 10 o'clock. She kept her 
senses and judgment till, I think, about a quarter of an 
hour before her death, so that I had the satisfaction of 
conversing frequently with her. At my first coming 
she was much in the dark about her eternal state. I 
[now] asked if the Lord had yet given her a discovery 

* The name is quite obliterated ; but we think it was Mar» 

GARET. 



272 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of Christ, and of the covenant method of salvation ; she 
answered, that she thought she had got some discovery 
of it. My brother Ralph said, that if she had got a 
discovery, then surely Christ would be exceedingly 
precious to her ; to which she answered, < O yes, yes, 
he is precious.' She frequently expressed her love to 
Christ, and her high esteem of him, and desire after 
him ; and just about the time of her death, I was ex- 
horting her to roll her soul over upon the merits of the 
exalted Redeemer, and asked if she was content to ven- 
ture her eternal all upon him, and she answered, 6 Yes, 
yes.' — which was all she was able to say ; and I obser- 
ved her cast her eyes and hands up towards heaven. I 
have now ground to hope that she is with the Lord. 
My brother Ralph told me that he was helped to great 
importunity with God on her behalf, and I cannot but 
say the same. I was helped. I recollect, to plead the 
blessed ransom and propitiation on her behalf. God is 
willing on his part to save lost sinners, and has found a 
ransom for this very end. I could not, therefore, but 
believe that he would be gracious to her, seeing I was 
confident that she was w illing, and declared her entire 
satisfaction with the method of salvation through a Re- 
deemer. On this ground I build my hope that she is 
this day singing hallelujahs with the ransomed on 
Mount Zion. She was buried on Wednesday, the 7th 
of October, 1713, in the church-yard of Dunfermline, 
beside Mr. David Ferguson and Mr. William Oliphant, 
two honest gentlemen of that place ; and Mr. John 
Gray, minister of Orwell, who also died and was buried 
in that place. 

••' But now as to the frame and disposition of my own 
soul during this sad dispensation — as I said already, I 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 273 



got my soul, I thought, sometimes sweetly enlarged 
for my poor sister in distress. I found, particularly, a 
great melting of soul, at a time when my brother and 
I went alone, and prayed together on her behalf. Both 
he and I were very much touched with tenderness, ac- 
companied with a pleading and wrestling spirit. — Her 
death was very weighty and affecting to me ; yet it 
pleased the Lord to turn the edge of my thoughts and 
affections towards an endless eternity, which was ap- 
proaching fast to myself 

After having suffered so many painful bereavements 
in the course of one year, we need not wonder to find 
him cultivating a close familiarity with the last enemy ; 
and apt to regard any considerable ailment he felt in 
his own earthly tabernacle as the harbinger of its speedy 
dissolution. It is gratifying, at the same time, to hear 
him, amid the humblest acknowledgments of personal 
unworthiness, repeatedly expressing a tranquil hope of 
future bliss, and occasionally rising to a triumphant ex- 
pectation of meeting his beloved father, and his dear 
departed children, in the immediate presence of God 
and the Lamb. 

"Aug. 12, 1713, between 6 and 7 p. m. I am be- 
ginning to think that my time here will not be long, in 
regard I feel the forerunners of death in this clay taber- 
nacle, by the intermitting of my pulse ; which I dis- 
covered first in the morning laying in my bed, but now 
more clearly and distinctly. Whereupon I did begin 
to think what I had to bear me through death — what I 
had to lean upon. I am very jealous of myself ; but O 

* The sequel of this entry has been quoted in Chap. ii. pp, 89, 
90. 



274 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



I would fain be in Christ, and build all my hopes on 
him. He has formerly, I think, drawn out my soul to 
him, though now he is hiding his face from me. But, 
I hope he will return, and that he will never, never, 
leave me nor forsake me — that he will be with me 
through the Jordan of death. I find, by looking back 
to my former experience, that I have been much in 
longing to be with Christ, to behold his glory. O that 
this may not be like Balaam, who desired to die the 
death of the righteous. But the Lord knows that my 
soul has been made to admire the person of Christ, and 
wonder at his excellency, as well as his purchase. It 
is his person I adore and accept of, and then I accept 
of all that he hath. O happy, if I were well over Jor- 
dan. It lightens my heart to think that he who was 
dead is alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys 
of hell and of death. This is the sheet-anchor of my 
soul, which is now drawing near to eternity." 

" Jan. 10, Sabbath, 1714. This morning my soul 
was exceedingly refreshed with the thoughts of my ap- 
proaching dissolution, when I shall be guarded by angels 
into the place of blessedness, and ascend into God's 
holy hill, where I shall meet with my father, and my lit- 
tle children that are gone before me, and all the ransom- 
ed on Mount Zion ; especially where I shall see Jesus, 
the Mediator of the new covenant ; and God, the Judge 
of all. And oh ! these words of Job, ch. xix. 25, 26, 
were like marrow and fatness to my soul ; ' I know that 
my Redeemer liveth ; and though worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.' My heart leaps 
within me at the thought of it, that these things are the 
evident truths of God, which are more firm than the 
foundations of the earth. I take this visit as a pledge 



THE HEV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



275 



that he will be with me in the dark valley of death, and 
that he will be with me this day to help me to proclaim 
his praise to the congregation. O that I could com- 
mend liim to the poor souls under my charge." 

The year 1714, as well as the preceding, was a time 
of heavy affliction to Mr. Erskine and family. The 
Records of the Presbytery of Kirkaldy contain an al- 
lusion to their sufferings in the spring of that year. It 
is stated that, on Feb. 27th, a letter had been received 
from him " representing the sad circumstances of his 
family," which rendered it impossible for him to preach, 
according to appointment, at Burntisland, on the last 
Sabbath of that month. It is particularly mentioned 
in the Diary, that Ebenezer, his only surviving son, 
was alarmingly ill of a fever. His feelings and exer- 
cises under this visitation are amply described. Let 
the following extract suffice for a specimen : 

" P. Friday, January 29, 1714, between 7 and 8 
p. M. My pleasant child, Ebenezer, is at this moment 
laying in the fever, having taken it on Wednesday last. 
I have been entreating the Lord for him; and the an- 
swer I have got is a discovery of God and his sove- 
reignty, which fills me with dread and stops my mouth, 
that I dare not quarrel, whatever be the issue. But 
glory to his name that along with this, that word came 
— 6 I am thy God, and the God of thy seed ; the pro- 
mise is unto you, and to your children.' I have got 
also this night some admiring views of the blessed 
Jesus. Oh ! he is precious, precious to me, and a 
sight of him lightens my heart. Though I have still 
some doubts and hesitation anent my claim to him be- 
cause of the woful prevalency of unbelief, my soul, I 



276 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



think, adheres and cleaves to him like the weak ivy to 

the strong oak . 

" About 1 o'clock in the morning, I was called down 
to see my poor child, who, they were thinking, would 
not live long. I went down and prayed for him ; and 
after I came up, I went to pray to God on his behalf. 
I begged of the Lord that he would spare him if it was 
his holy pleasure ; but if he intended to take him aAvay, 
that he would show a token for good anent his soul's 
well-being. After I had lain down, that word presented 
itself to me with a different gloss from any that ever I 
thought on before — < Suffer the little children to come 
unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' I 
thought, while my heart was clasping and gripping, the 
Lord, as it were, in a condescending way, bade me 
loose my grips, and suffer this little child also to come 
to him, for of such is the kingdom of heaven—^ for I 
have use for him in my heavenly kingdom.' Where- 
upon my soul sweetly echoed back again, 6 Lord, if 
thou hast use for him in thy heavenly kingdom, I quit 
him with more than a thousand goodwills ; for he is 
thine own, and why shouldst thou not have thine own ? 
It is amazing condescension in thee, to ask this of me, 
to suffer him to go home to thee. That which yet 
rendered it the more sweet was Rom. viii. 32, 4 He 
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us 
all.' Has God given his only Son out of love to the 
like of me ; and shall not I cheerfully give my only son 
to him, when he calls for hirm or has use for him in 
heaven ? Meditation on these things was so sweet 
that my heart, I thought, was calmed and quieted, 
whatever should be the event. I fully quit my child to 
the Lord ? to dispose of him." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



277 



Young Ebenezer, nevertheless, was mercifully re- 
lieved from his fever, as well as wonderfully preserved, 
when, three months after his recovery, a cow tossed him 
on her horns.* The father of the family, however, was 
also seized with this contagious disorder. In the follow- 
ing passage of his Diary, he records the impressions he 
felt under God's correcting hand, enumerates the va- 
rious arguments against impatience which he urged on 
his own mind, and specifies the dutiful resolutions he 
formed: 

" P. March 29, 1714. On Monday the day of 

this month I took the fever, from which, blessed be the 
Lord, I am now in a hopeful way of recovery. For 
the first two days of my fever, I remember, I was in 
great darkness, and could not see the Lord, or rejoice 
in him, as sometimes I could have done. Even in the 
dark, however, I was helped, in some measure, to trust 
in the name of the Lord, and stay myself on my God. 
He helped me to look to, and roll myself upon, the 
righteousness of Christ, as the only ground of my jus- 
tification and acquittance before the bar of a hply and 
righteous God, before which I was not sure but I 
might shortly appear. After these two days were past, 
though I began to rove, yet the Lord was pleased to ma- 
nifest himself to me in his awful power and majesty. I 
thought I beheld him working wonders before me, as 
in the land of Egypt — rending rocks, levelling moun- 
tains, making crooked things straight, filling up vallies, 
doing great things to me ; yea, wonders without num- 
ber. Yet I was not in the least terrified at the sight, 

becausel thought I saw him to be my God, my Fa- 

• * This remarkable escape has been mentioned pp. 155, 156. 



278 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ther, reconciled to me in Christ, and doing all these 
things with a design to form suitable conceptions and 
impressions of himself in my soul. Accordingly I was 
filled with adoring thoughts of his excellent majesty, 
and an awful regard to his commands, so that I thought 
I would rather study to please God and obey him, than 
all the men in the world, for I saw all the kings, princes, 
potentates, and parliaments in the world to be as no- 
thing, yea, less than nothing, before him. 

" I remember also, that in the extremity of my bodi- 
ly sickness, I was beginning to turn fretful and impa- 
tient ; but several things were presented to my conside- 
ration, which did not only still and quiet me, but made 
me burst out in tears, such as, 1. The consideration 
of the absolute sovereignty and dominion of the great 
God, to whom I was but as the pot-sherd in the hand of 
the potter, whom he might make and break in pieces, 
as he pleases. What am I that I should say unto him, 
What dost thou ? 2. The consideration of the justice 
and equity of God, compared with my own deservings. 
I remembered that I was a sinner, and a great sinner ; 
that I had violated the whole law, and that the least of 
all my sins, which were innumerable, laid me open to 
the curse, and made me liable to everlasting torments 
in hell ; and therefore I had little reason to repine, 
since it was only a temporal trouble that I was endur- 
ing. 3. The consideration of what Christ suffered, 
who was the Only begotten Son of God, personally in- 
nocent, and only impuiatively guilty ; yet it pleased the 
Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief. If these 
things were done in the green tree, what should be 
done in the dry? I had little reason to complain, since 
my sufferings and troubles came far short of his. 4. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



279 



The consideration that this light affliction would soon 
come to an end, and should work for me a far more 
exceeding and an eternal weight of glory : for in the 
midst of my trouble, I remember, I still had hope that 
if I lived, I should triumph with God's inheritance on 
earth, and if I died, I should triumph and sing hallelu- 
jahs with the redeemed company that are around the 
throne. These considerations, I say, stilled and quieted 
my spirit ; and my heart melted to think that I should 
be guilty of repining against the hand of a kind and 
gracious Father, who was correcting me for my good ; 
and of whose love I have had so many proofs and re- 
peated experiences. 

" I remember also that in the time of my fever, I 
came under solemn engagements that, if the Lord 
should spare me and recover me to wonted health, I 
would be more watchful against sin than ever, particu- 
larly the sin I am most inclined to, and that, through 
the assistance of his grace, I would have a universal re- 
spect to all his commandments. I felt so much of the 
sweetness of Christ, that I thought, if ever the Lord re- 
covered me, I would have more than ever to say to his 
commendation ; I would preach him with more vigour 
and liveliness than ever to my congregation ; I would 
be more active than ever to commend him to poor 
souls — and that not only by public preaching but by 
private conversation ; and that on all occasions I would 
speak to his praise." 

Those afflictive dispensations which prove a salutary 
discipline to all Christians, are peculiarly profitable, as 
appears from the above extracts, to them who serve at 
the altar. The blessed experience this faithful pastor 
had, in very trying circumstances, of the importance 



280 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and value of the Gospel, gave a new impulse to his zeal 
in recommending its precious doctrines and promises to 
others ; and he stood prepared to " comfort those that 
were in trouble, with the comfort wherewith he himself 
was comforted of God." His parishioners tenderly 
sympathized with him under his repeated and heavy 
distresses ; and at the same time they observed with 
pleasure that these trials were succeeded by an in- 
creased fervency in enforcing personal religion, and in 
making a close application of the truth to the conscience 
and heart, and infused fresh energy into all his efforts 
on behalf of immortal souls. * About this period too, 
the good fruits of his ministry became more visible and 
striking than they had previously been, f 

To return to his own details. — The bitter cup as- 
signed to him in the year 1714 was not yet exhausted. 
Several months after his own recovery from fever, his 
eldest daughter was taken ill of the same distemper at 
Kirkaldy. The following entry shows the solicitude he 
felt, and the earnestness and animating hope with which 
lie presented his requests on her behalf : 

"P. August 18, 1714. I got word yesterday that 
my daughter Jean is laying in a fever in Kirkaldy. 
The Lord be gracious to her. I desire to give her to 
the Lord, and according to his command, to bring her 
to him, who, I hope, is my God, and who will also, ac- 
cording to his promise, be the God of my seed. 

Christ's condescension towards the nobleman of Ca- 
pernaum, who entreated him on behalf of his child that 
was dying, furnished me with an argument on behalf of 
my little daughter. He has a regard to the poor as 



* Portmoak MS. 



-f- See chap. iv. p. 196. 



THE REV. EBENEZEJU ERSKINE. 



281 



well as the rich and noble ; and therefore I may go 
to him for my child as well as this man did, for he is as 
willing and ready to help now, as he was then. This 
gave me encouragement to pray that the Lord Jesus 
would heal her soul ; that he would lay his hand on her 
and bless her ; that he would break in upon her heart, 
and sanctify this affliction ; that, if it were his will, he 
would spare her ; and that, if she died, he would take 
her to himself. Only allow some comfortable evidence 
to parents of a gracious change, and of love to Christ. 
Blessed be his name, who allows me to plead on her 
behalf, and helps in some measure to believe that he 
will hear." 

His prayers for this beloved daughter were gracious- 
ly heard. After the lapse of about four weeks, she 
was so far restored that on September 22, he brought 
her home from Kirkaldy, and both in his closet and 
family rendered to the Lord the Healer, the tribute of 
fervent gratitude on her account.* 

Several subsequent entries, however, which it is un- 
necessary to quote, give evidence that his tender recol- 
lections of his three dear boys, whose remains he had 
committed to the dust, were often revived; and that 
his thoughts and affections were habitually fixed on 
that world of perfect bliss, where he expected shortly to 
meet them. 

Those longings after immortality were inflamed not 
only by the repeated breaches in his own house, but by 
the departure of Christian friends, and in particular, of 
ministers who stood high in his esteem. What a warm 



Comp. chap. iii. pp. 156, 157. 



282 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



regard he cherished for the Rev. Mr. Plenderleath 
of Saline, and how greatly he was moved by conflicting 
emotions of grief and joy on occasion of his death, will 
sufficiently appear from the following extract : 

" January 26, 1715. I sometimes long exceedingly 
to be with Christ, to behold his glory above, in the ha- 
bitation not made with hands ; and the death of my 
dear and worthy brother, Mr. Peter Plenderleath, has 
contributed to increase my desires this way. The ac- 
count of his death at Fordoun, as he was travelling 
north, has been both bitter and sweet to me. It is 
bitter to think of the universal loss that the Church of 
Christ has sustained by his death, and particularly his 
poor flock, and his poor wife and children, with whom 
I do cordially sympathize. It is sweet to think that he 
is now where he longed much to be. He was always 
commending Christ while here upon earth; and now 
he is in the arms of Christ, feasting with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the ransomed compa- 
ny above, who are singing hallelujahs to Him that sits 
on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. It 
is sweet also to think that I have another friend before 
me, with whom I hope to meet, when I shall drop 
this clay tabernacle that I carry about with me. O 
that his spirit might rest upon me, till I come to the 
place where he now is. I am informed that Mr. Wil- 
liam Trail was with him at the time of his death ; and 
while [Mr. Trail] was praying, he cried out three 
times, Victory ! Victory ! Victory ! Oh ! he is now 
triumphing after the victory, with Christ and the com- 
pany that have 6 palms in their hands.' " 

His sincere sympathy with the bereaved congrega- 
tion and family was expressed by a kind visit which he 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



283 



made, in compliance with the mourning Widow's re- 
quest. The circumstances are thus narrated : 

" July — , 1715. About a fortnight ago, I received 
a letter from Mrs. Plenderleath, desiring of me the fa- 
vour of a visit, and entreating I might order it so as to 
give them a Sabbath's supply in the parish of Saline ; 
which desire of her's I granted on the 3d day of this 
month, being Sabbath. Immediately before it I was 
reading in my ordinary the history of Elijah's transla- 
tion ; and I observed these words of Elisha at his di- 
viding of Jordan, 2d Kings ii. 14, 6 Where is the Lord 
God of Elijah?' They were very sweet to me. The 
Lord was pleased to fix my meditations upon them, and 
to offer a great number of observations from them 
which I judged very proper to be insisted on in that 
parish, after the death of such an eminent person as the 
worthy Mr. Plenderleath. Accordingly I preached 
there yesterday. The Lord helped, in some M -ure, 
both in the lecture and sermon, and likewise in the 
evening public exercise. The dear Widow told me 
that the message had been very sweet to her, and that 
she had got some reviving thereby, for which I desire 
to bless the Lord. She being a very judicious, and, I 
think, exercised Christian, I tarried there all night, and 
came off in the morning after I had prayed with her." 

Nothing on earth, however, was more immediately 
interesting to Mr. Erskine than the welfare of his own 
wife, who had proved, as we have seen, a singularly ex- 
cellent helper to him in his spiritual as well as temporal 
concerns. From the loss of so many of her children, 
from her bodily indispositions, and, above all, from a de- 
pression of spirits to which she was liable, she required 



284 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



all that assistance and comfort which the sympathetic 
attention of a most affectionate husband could afford. 
At one time, probably in the year 1715, she laboured 
under a violent fever, and was considered by herself 
and by all around her, as at the point of death ; but a 
gracious Providence restored her to health. Towards 
the close of the year following, she had another consi- 
derable affliction, which was also removed. But the 
appointed hour of separation at last arrived. Her de- 
licate frame was gradually reduced by ailments which 
lasted for about a twelvemonth ; and on Wednesday, 
August 31, 1720, she obtained a happy escape from all 
the infirmities and sorrows of this mortal life. Her 
husband, in an entry elated " Sabbath, January 24, 
1720, after complaining of the iniquity of his heart and 
of the Lord's hiding his face from him, proceeds thus : 

" Besides all this, I have had the rod of God laying 
upr^n m j^family by the great distress of a dear wife, on 
whom the Lord hath laid his hand, and on whom his 
hand doth still lie heavy. But O that I could proclaim 
the praises of his free grace, which has paid me a new 
and undeserved visit this day. He has been with me 
both in secret and public. I found the sweet smells 
of the Rose of Sharon, and my soul was refreshed with 
a new sight of him in the excellency of his person as 
Immanuel, and in the sufficiency of his everlasting 
righteousness. My sinking hopes are revived by the 
sight of him. My bonds are loosed, and my burdens 
of affliction made light, when he appears. In the mean 
time, I desire to join trembling with my mirth ; for I 
am afraid that some storm of affliction is abiding me, 
and that this is given as a prelude and preparative 
thereto. But I desire to say, < Here am I, let him do 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



285 



to me as seemeth good unto him.' If he call me to go 
down to the swellings of Jordan, why not, if it be his 
holy will. Only be with me, Lord, and let thy rod and 
staff comfort me, and then I shall not fear to go through 
the valley of trouble, yea, through the valley of the sha- 
dow of death." 

His anticipations of some approaching trial were 
mournfully verified by the event. In the very next 
page of the Diary he commences interesting details re- 
specting the death and character of his beloved Wife, 
including both an " Account" he wrote for his own sa- 
tisfaction, and a copy of a Letter addressed on this 
mournful occasion to Mr. and Mrs. Balderston of 
Edinburgh. His simple unvarnished statements re- 
garding her integrity and piety, her temptations and 
deliverances, her salutary counsels to her children, her 
judicious conference with female friends, her peaceful 
departure notwithstanding former conflicts, and the va- 
rious circumstances which combined to alleviate the 
pangs of separation, and called him to mingle songs of 
praise with the tears of sorrow, are equally honourable 
to the deceased #ife and the surving husband, and can 
scarcely fail to approve themselves to the heart of every 
reader, not utterly void of sensibility or candour. Due 
allowance must be made for the habits and manners of 
the times. The notice of that impressive prayer, which 
out of the depth of her mental distress, Mrs. Erskine 
was induced to offer up to God, in the presence of se- 
veral clergymen, and at their request, however strange 
it may now appear, is too striking an instance of her 
own fervent piety, and too characteristic of the spirit 
that prevailed among the godly of that age, to be here 
omitted. 



286 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Here folloivs an Account of some things which re- 
late to my dear wife, Alison Turpie, with whom 
I was married February 2, 1704, and ivho?n the 
Lord called home to glory August 81, 1720. 
" She was a person of many rare and excellent en- 
dowments, both natural and spiritual. By nature she 
was a person of the greatest candour, equity, and in- 
genuity. For the whole world she would not have told 
a lie. She spoke the truth in her heart, her words be- 
ing always the lively transcript of the thoughts of her 
heart. She abhorred every thing that looked like trick, 
or deceit, or fraud, in her dealings between man and 
man. She was of a quick and lively conception, not 
only about ordinary things, but in things divine and 
supernatural. She had a great reach of judgment in 
religion beyond many women that ever I conversed 
with. 

" About the third year that she and I were married, 
the Lord was pleased to plunge her into the greatest 
depths of humiliation that I ever knew. Before she 
fell into these depths, she told me that the Lord gave 
her such a discovery of the glory of Christ as darkened 
the whole creation, and made all things appear as dung 
and dross in comparison of him. This view, she said, 
was but a transient glance or glimpse of his glory ; and, 
immediately upon this discovery, she got such a sight 
of the enmity and unbelief of her heart, and of the 
strength of its opposition to Christ, and the way of sal- 
vation through him, that she fell under the most dread- 
ful apprehensions of her having sinned the unpardon- 
able sin ; and that what she had met with was only a 
taste of the good word of Gocl, and of the powers of the 
world to come, spoken of Heb. vi. 6. O that was a 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 287 

terrible Scripture to her, and also Heb. x. 26-29. For 
a month or two the arrows of the Almighty were within 
her, the poison whereof did drink up her spirits ; and 
the terrors of God did set themselves in array against 
her. The law of God, in its majesty, authority, and 
spirituality, was set before her. The particular sin she 
complained of was her unbelief. In these depths she 
continued till the Lord moved me to call some neigh- 
bouring ministers to join in prayer on her behalf, par- 
ticularly Mr. Andrew Wardrope, in the parish of Bal- 
lingry ; Mr. Andrew Thomson, of Orwell ; Mr. John 
Shaw, then minister of Leslie ; Mr. John Currie, of 
Kinglassie. Every one of them prayed by turns with 
her in my closet, and conversed with her ; but no re- 
lief appeared, till Mr. Wardrope proposed that she 
should pray with them before they parted. She was 
exceedingly averse from it ; yet being constrained to it, 
and being in an agony of spirit through the terrors of 
God, she at last complied. 

" But oh ! that her words were now written, and 
printed in a book — that they were graven with an iron 
pen and lead in the rock for ever ! For, to the convic- 
tion of all present, the Spirit of God spoke out of her. 
There was not, I suppose, a dry cheek among all the 
ministers, or others of the family, that were present. 
Her expressions were full of the Spirit — so suited to the 
case of her soul, and in such a heavenly eloquence, that 
if a general assembly of ministers had compiled and 
studied it, they could not have been better digested. 
The Lord, indeed, gave her the Spirit, and helped her 
to pray. When she arose from prayer, though the 
Lord had melted her soul, and the souls of all present, 
by her heavenly words and frame, still she continued 



288 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to charge herself with the unpardonable sin, and to con- 
clude that she was but a castaway. The Lord, how- 
ever, heard the voice of her weeping ; for that same day 
he was pleased, in some measure, to calm her spirit, 
and to break the strength of the temptation, so that, 
though she did not find full clearance, she had more 
quiet and composure of soul. The Lord particularly 
blessed a little book which Mr. Currie left her, called 
Collings on Desertion, Temptation, fyc. Within some 
few days after this, though clouds were still around her, 
the Lord quieted the storm. He gave her a sweet se- 
renity of mind, and helped her to a holy, tender, and 
circumspect walk, and an humble waiting upon him in 
the way of duty, both in public and private, for many 
years. 

"I remember that, one day when I was walking 
through my closet, after the Lord had delivered her out 
of the tkpths, he was pleased to bear in upon my spirit 
a sense of his goodness towards her, and towards me 
and my family, in her deliverance. The consideration 
of the Lord's goodness in calming her spirit, made a 
deep impression on my soul. This, I think, was the 
first time that ever I felt the Lord touching my heart 
in a sensible manner. I dare not say much on this 
head. Only her distress and affliction, with her de- 
liverance, I always think, were blessed, not only to her, 
but to me also. I saw the fruits of it on her evidently 
discernible ; and, as to myself, I found the Lord afcer 
this now and then touching my heart, so that he drew 
me with the cords of love, and with the bands of a man. 
I remember, particularly, some few days or weeks af- 
ter the Lord had quieted the agony of her spirit, she 
and I were sitting together in my closet, and while we 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 289 

were conversing about the things of God, the Lord was 
pleased to rend the vail and give me a glimmering view 
of the way of salvation and redemption, which, I think, 
made my soul to acquiesce in Christ as the new and 
living way to glory. After this, she and I lived com- 
fortably together for many years, her conversation and 
company being most savoury, edifying, and helpful to 
me. Several times she told me of sweet visits she had 
from the Lord ; the particulars of which I have now for- 
got. Only I am sure of this ; unless her eyes had been 
anointed with eye-salve, she could never have had such 
views of the spirituality and extent of the law, nor such 
clear and distinct up-takings of the Gospel. The more 
spiritual, the more evangelical, and the more searching 
any sermon was, it was always the sweeter to her taste ; 
which is a convincing evidence that her nature was re- 
newed by the Holy Spirit. She was so strict and cir- 
cumspect in her walk, that I was many times a Earned 
of myself, when I compared myself with her. She had 
an extraordinary sagacity, I remember, in discerning 
the stamp and image of God on any she conversed with, 
which did exceedingly endear them to her. The saints 
were in her view the excellent ones of the earth ; with 
them was all her delight. I may therefore warrantably 
conclude that she had passed from death to life ; and, 
consequently, that she has now passed from earth to 
heaven and glory. 

" I remember, that about this time twelvemonths her 
trouble did begin ; and oh ! it was a heavy and weary 
trouble to her. At first she had a swelling in her legs. 
. . . Melancholy was a great ingredient in her dis- 
ease. The pressure of her affliction in body and in 
mind would have drawn pity from a heart of Hint, O 

o 



290 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



it was heavy to me to see her many times sore tossed 
with the winds and waves of temptation, and in great 
bondage through fear of death. But the Lord, who 
does not contend for ever, was pleased to speak a word 
of comfort to her, which turned her storm into a plea- 
sant calm. The word, I think was, * Be of good cheer ? 
thy sins are forgiven thee ;' and then another word fol- 
lowed, which was this, ' The God of peace shall bruise 
Satan under your feet shortly.' Some time after this, 
however, clouds and discouragements did again return ; 
but it pleased the Lord that she was never so deeply 
nor so long under them, for the Lord was now and then 
giving her a reviving. About a month before her death, 
particularly, the Lord filled her with ardent longings after 
communion with Christ and conformity to him, which, 
I remember she told me of, and which I frequently im- 
proved for her comfort and encouragement, as a sure 
and sweet evidence of Christ's being truly formed in her 
soul. 

" Most sweet and comfortable were her advices to 
her dear children, particularly to Jeany, who waited 
well and dutifully upon her during her long trouble 
and distress, which binds my heart exceedingly to that 
child ; especially because her mother had a strong af- 
fection for her. She frequently entreated me to be 
kind to her children when she was gone, which, 
through grace, I resolve to be, so long as the Lord sees 
fit to spare me with them. 

" It pleased the Lord to abate her trouble under 
which she had been for ten or eleven months together, 
so that she was able to go through the house, and to 
go out to the garden, till the fever came into the family 
among the children. 



THE REV. EBENEZEB ERSKINE. 291 

" One day, about twenty days before her death, I 
remember, Anne Archer and Margaret Walker being 
here on a Saturday, she and they two went out to my 
garden, and sat down upon the seat below the east win- 
dow, where I heard her and them fall a talking about 
the Marrow of Modern Divinity, and some points that 
are controverted among us at this day. I listened, and 
heard my worthy Dear talk of the freedom of the co- 
venant of grace, of the nature of faith, and some other 
things, to my astonishment and admiration ; so that, for 
my life, I could not have made an extempore discourse 
upon them to such purpose and for such a long time as 
her discourse lasted, very near three quarters of an 
hour, without any considerable interruption — in so 
much that I was afraid that by her long and continued 
discourse she would do herself harm. I therefore at 
length opened the window, and spoke with a design to 
interrupt their discourse, and desired my Dear to come 
into the house, lest she should catch cold — which she 
accordingly did." 

"Immediately after her deaths I wrote the following 
Letter to B. Balder ston and my Sister at Edin- 
burgh : 
" Dear Brother and Sister, 

The loss which I and my poor 
babes have sustained since my last to you is such that 
I dare scarcely allow myself the liberty of reflecting se- 
riously upon it. When I begin to indulge myself in 
this way (which yet is almost inevitable), I am so sen- 
sibly touched therewith that my very spirits are like to 
be overwhelmed within me through grief and sorrow. 
But I know that excess this way is displeasing to the 



292 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Lord and prejudicial both to the outward and inward 
health ; and therefore, as the Lord enables by his 
grace, I do and shall endeavour to restrain myself in 
this matter. The hand of the Lord, I must own, has 
touched me to the very quick in removing the desire of 
mine eyes ; but yet I must also own that the Lord has 
mixed much matter of praise with this melancholy dis- 
pensation, which may serve to mitigate my grief, if I 
could reflect thereupon. 

" That I may divert my thoughts and fix the im- 
pression of the Lord's goodness on myself, and furnish 
you with matter of praise as well as of sympathy, I 
shall condescend on a few [instances of it.] 1. I 
think it is matter of praise and gratitude that ever the 
Lord lent such a valuable person to me, and that for 
seventeen years, as a partaker of my griefs and joys. 
2. It is matter of praise that the Lord, out of this 
sweet and fruitful vine, which grew by my house-side, 
hath raised seven little olive plants, which stand round 
about my table. 3. It is matter of praise that the Lord 
did not pull her away on a sudden, but did it gradually, 
and gave about a twelve-month's warning, that he 
might loose our grips of her by little and little. 4. It 
is matter of praise that through the tract of her ordinary 
conversation there was such an air of heaven, such 
grace and holiness, such a steady and circumspect 
walk, such a watching with Christ and conformity to 
him, such a clear and distinct work of the Spirit, that 
we have not the least ground to doubt that she is now 
before the throne above. 5. It is matter of praise that 
though for a long while she was held in bondage 
through fear of death, yet about twenty days before 
her death, the Lord loosed her bonds, and spoke peace 



THE ftEV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



293 



to her by this word, V Whatsoever ye shall ask the Fa- 
ther in my name, he will give it you,' whereby the 
fears of death were in a great measure removed. The 
Lord also took her through Jordan without ever letting 
her know (when she was in the midst of it,) till she was 
oh the other side in Immanuel's land; for the fever 
carried her off both insensibly as to herself, and easily 
without the least visible pang, or distortion of her coun- 
tenance. 6. It is matter of praise that the Lord made 
her not only an instrument in building my family and 
cherishing my body, but I hope a sweet instrument in 
bringing me to an acquaintance with Christ and reli- 
gion ; the Lord's way of dealing with her, I mean the 
deep exercises of her spirit and the desirable issue of 
them, being blessed of the Lord, I hope to me also. It 
was in the time of the Lord's working effectually with 
her that he was pleased, as I would hope, to reveal his 
Son in me; so that it will be eternal matter of praise that 
ever the Lord gave her to me. If I were as I ought to 
be* I would render back the sweet loan with thanks. 
But O what a struggle is it to bring my thoughts and 
will in this matter into captivity to the obedience of the 
Lord ; the parting with her being to nature like the 
tearing of one member of the body from another. But 
what shall I say? He himself has done it, and who am 
I that I should reply against God ? The Lord hath 
seen fit to increase my care and charge with respect to 
my dear babes. Oh pray that the Lord may enable 
me, in some measure, to supply the room of her to 
them, who, for prudence and management, was as a 
parent both to them and me .* I must close at 

* A melancholy circumstance is mentioned at the conclusion of 
this letter. Mrs. Erskine, about a month before her death, hav~ 



294 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



present, entreating your sympathy with us in affliction. 
And I remain 

Your afflicted and affectionate brother, 

Ebenezer Erskine. 

Portmoak, Sept 1, 1720. 

" P. S. I pray give my duty to Mr. Charles Er- 
skine,* who did me the kindness to come to the fune- 
ral, though he had not a letter, being in the country 
without our knowledge. — I am a little troubled with 
pains in my head, and a beating at my heart. Pray 
give me your advice about it, for I incline to take care 
of myself for the sake of the dear babes, to whom I de- 
sire now to be both a father and a mother." 

To these details respecting Mrs. Erskine, we may 
subjoin the following notice, which was very providen- 

ing given a necessary and modest reproof to a servant, the girl 
returned an insolent and abusive answer, full of " devilish invec- 
tives," winch had "such an impression on her broken frame and 
constitution," that she became rapidly worse, and never reco- 
vered. This general notice of that affair is sufficient. A few 
other sentences both in this letter and in the previous "account" 
are omitted ; and we may take this opportunity of stating, that 
since writing the explanation given in the note, p. 81, we 
have found the necessity of greater curtailment than was at first 
intended. In various extracts, redundant sentences as well as 
phrases are omitted, and some unimportant circumstances passed 
over. The most scrupulous care is at the same time taken to 
suppress nothing essential, and uniformly to avoid both the 
misstating of facts, and the misrepresentation of the writer's 
meaning. 

* This was probably Charles Erskine, of Tinwald, at that time 
an advocate, and Professor of Public Law in the University of 
Edinburgh ; and afterwards Lord of Session, and Lord Justice 
Clerk. He died in 1/03, at the age of 82, much lamented. See 
Lord VToodhouselee's Mem. of Lord Karnes, vol. i. pp. 38, 39. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



295 



tially written, preserved, and discovered. It relates 
to her feelings and conduct in a time of affliction some 
years before, when her immediate dissolution was ex- 
pected. 

" Monday, Dec. 12, 1720. When I was yesterday 
seeking some paper, I fell upon a bit of short-hand 
written by my brother of Dunfermline ; and when I 
began to read it, I found that it was some words taken 
from the mouth of my dear wife, about five or six years 
ago, when people had been called in to see her die of 
a lingering fever, from which she recovered. The 
words were as follows : 

< 1 think, indeed, I have got a discovery of the abso- 
lute need of Christ for salvation. It is the desire of my 
soul to cleave to him. Oh ! ye that are young people, 
remember your Creator in the days of your youth. 
You cannot begin too soon. I was long enough of be- 
ginning myself. The Lord was always giving me some 
touch ; but I was never brought off from the law, till he 
discovered himself. I would fain commend Christ to 
you, Sirs, if I knew how to do it. You will never be 
safe till you get to him for shelter. He is a strong 
hold. He is God's way to sinners, and the saint's way 
to God. Never one saw him, but saw him beyond all 
other objects ; and people never understand any thing 
aright till they know Christ. Though he should slay 
me, I desire to die praising and commending him. 
Speaking to her husband, she said, my Dear, you have 
been a very kind husband to me ; the Lord will take 
care of you and of our children. — Oh ! said she, I have 
no other claim or title to heaven but through Christ. 
* I answered her,' says my brother Ralph, 6 that there 
was no other needed ; to which she answered, No, no ! 



296 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to sleep in Jesus ! O it is a sweet rest ! I desire 
to cling to him. As for death, I cannot say, but I am 
not afraid of it. The Lord, I think, has sometimes 
done me good, and I hope he will not leave me in my 
extremity. Whom the Lord loves, he loves unto the 
end. He will never, I think, forsake a poor soul to 
whom he has once discovered himself. Blessed be God, 
who has provided Him in whom there is an infinite ful- 
ness. I think I have seen his complete righteousness. 

1 think he will never cast off a soul that desires to cleave 
to him.' 

66 These are the words," it is added with much feeling, 
that I found taken from her mouth by my dear brother 
Ralph. I bless the Lord that put it into his mind to 
write them, and I bless the Lord who has preserved this 
paper in which they are written ; for they have been 
-very refreshing to my soul on her account, and confirm 
my hope anent her being with the Lord in glory/' 

His " dear brother Ralph" did indeed feel keenly 
for him under his numerous afflictions, and heart-rend- 
ing bereavements. In those days of trial, his kind visits 
to Portmoak were frequently repeated, and his tender 
sympathy and seasonable counsel served greatly to al- 
leviate the sharpness of grief. The Sabbath after the 
interment of Mrs. Erskine, he occupied the pulpit of 
the widowed husband, and selected these words for his 
'text, Ezek. xxiv. 18. " So I spake unto the people in 
the morning, and at even my wife died ; and I did in 
the morning as I was commanded." Next day, when 
about to take leave, his horse waiting him at the door, 
he turned and addressing Jean, his amiable niece, asked 
her if she had her mother's Bible at hand. The Bible 
being immediately presented, he wrote on one of its 



THE; REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. "297 

blank pages the same Four lines which were subsequent- 
ly engraven on the tomb-stone. 

In the desolate condition in which he now found 
himself, Ebenezer called his sins to remembrance, and 
lay low in the dust of self-abasement. His resignation, 
however, not merely flowed from convictions of his own 
sinfulness, and of the rectitude of the divine administra- 
tion, but was sustained by faith in that Gospel which 
brings life and immortality to light, and accompanied 
by a prayerful dependence on the promises of God for 
all necessary mercies to himself and to his motherless 
children. The spirituality of his mind, and the warm 
affections of his heart, are strikingly breathed out in 
the following extracts : 

" Saturday, Oct 8, 1720. This night, when about 
my studies, the Lord made my meditation on him sweet. 
Oh ! I envied the happiness of my dear wife, who is be- 
holding, admiring, and praising the Redeemer on Mount 
Zion. When shall I be there also, beyond sinning ? 
O who can tell what it is to be with the Lord ? O to 
be helped to honour and serve him, while in the weary 
wilderness, and to be found 6 so doing.' I was made 
to wonder at my own folly in sinning against the Lord, 
and to wonder at the Lord's pardoning grace and 
mercy." 

" Oct. 18, between 5 and 6 in the morning, I went 
to secret duty, and got some access, I thought, in 
prayer, to the Lord. I was helped particularly to pray 
that the Lord would sanctify my widowhood, and that, 
seeing he had taken away that sweet creature which 
was the desire of mine eyes, he would give me 6 the de- 
sire of all nations' in her room, and then I should be a 



298 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



gainer instead of being a loser. I was helped to justify 
the Lord, and to see his equity and righteousness in af- 
flicting me, saying, 6 But thou art holy, O thou who in- 
habitest the praises of Israel/ I was helped to pray for 
my poor children, and by name, to cast them upon the 
Lord. The Lord has given me the sole charge of them as 
a parent, and I got liberty to lay the charge of them 
back again upon himself, who is far more able to bear it. 
I gave the charge of them as to their temporal concerns 
to the Lord ; for 6 The earth is the Lord's, and the ful- 
ness thereof.' I gave the charge of them also, as to their 
spiritual and eternal concerns, to the Lord ; which I 
may do with the more confidence, because the promise 
is unto me and to my children, and he has said, 6 Leave 
thy fatherless (or motherless) children upon me ;' and 
again, 6 Suffer little children to come unto me/ He 
encouraged parents to bring their children to him, 
while here upon earth ; and he is the same now as ever. 
I got liberty to bring them to him for a blessing. It is 
the very desire of my soul that they may be a seed to 
serve the Lord, and to make his name to be remember- 
ed through all generations. I was concerned that the 
Lord would enable me to act the part of a parent to 
them, and that, if it be his holy will, he may spare me 
a while for this very end. But I know that though he 
should call me off the stage, he can see better to them 
than if I were alive to look after them." 

The events of providence fully justify that proverbial 
saying ; " Afflictions seldom come alone — almost always 
in clusters." Within less than a quarter of a year after 
the death of his excellent partner, Mr. Erskine was be- 
reaved of his much valued brother-in-law, Mr. Bal- 



THE REV. EBENE2ER ERSKINE. 



299 



derston, of Edinburgh, who died Nov. 23, 1720. On 
this occassion he wrote a most affectionate and conso- 
latory letter to his mourning sister ; a copy of which he 
preserved in his Diary. 

" Nov. 25, 1720. This night I had the melancholy 
news of the death of B. Balder ston, on which 1 wrote the 
following letter : 

" Dear Sister, 

The melancholy news of the death of my dear 
and worthy brother did not reach me till Friday about 
7 at night. My tender sympathy with you, and my 
entire respect to his memory, fill me with a strong de* 
sire to be at Edinburgh, that I might, in person, condole 
your loss, and comfort you with the same consolations 
wherewith I have been comforted in the like case, and 
that I might also concur in the funeral solemnity of such 
a near and dear relation. But, considering that it is 
impracticable that I could reach Edinburgh to-morrow, 
as the tide falls, so as to be present at the funeral, and 
that I have been, and still am labouring under such in- 
disposition that I have not preached these two Sabbaths 
bygone, I am laid under a necessity of deferring my 
journey. 

Dear afflicted Sister, I know, or at least I may know* 
the heart of a stranger in losses of this kind, which you 
are now visited with. My wound is yet fresh and 
green, and therefore my sympathy with, and concern 
for you cannot fail to be the more lively. But glory to 
our exalted Lord, that neither you nor I have any rea- 
son to mourn as they that have no hope. Your worthy 
friend and mine had his conversation adorned with the 
genuine characters of a true citizen of Zion, Psalm 
xv. ? and therefore you have reason to believe and hope 



300 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



that he has now his abode in God's tabernacle and holy 
hill, even in Mount Zion, the city of the living God, where 
he is joined to the 6 general assembly of angels, and 
spirits of just men made perfect,' who are beholding 
the King in his beauty, and singing the new song, Rev. 
v. ' Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power and riches, wisdom and strength, and honour, 
and glory, and blessing.' Oh ! how sweet a balance 
may it be to our spirits under the loss of such dear re- 
lations, to think of the heartsome w r ork they are em- 
ployed in, the heartsome company they are joined to, 
and the lightsome house of many mansions wherein they 
dwell, not as passengers, but as pillars that shall go no 
more out. Should we not rather long to be with them 
than grudge their removal from us, and from the crazy 
tabernacles of clay wherein they groaned under so many 
burdens. Let us then lift up our heads in the hope of 
that life they desired, and are now actually possessed 
of. The time is short ; and therefore let us be en- 
couraged, for that within a little we shall follow 
them, and then they and we shall be for ever with 
the Lord ; which, indeed, is best of all. What an ex- 
cellent thing is it, to be fairly landed on the other side 
of Jordan, standing on the banks of Immanuel's land, 
crying Victory, victory, victory, for evermore, through 
the blood of the Lamb, over sin, the devil, death, and 
hell. How sweet is it to be sitting with overcomers on 
the same throne with the Son of God, as he also over- 
came and sat down with his Father on his throne. Let 
us up with oar drooping hearts ; for the same chariot 
that has carried our worthy friends to glory, where they 
walk with Christ in white, will speedily return to fetch 
us also ; and, though they and we drop the mantle of 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



301 



the body in the passage, yet we shall receive it again 
with advantage in the morning of the resurrection, 
when these vile bodies shall be made like unto the glo- 
rious body of the Lord Jesus. Christ's dead men shall 
live ; as his dead body shall they arise, when the dew 
of God's Spirit shall, like the dew of herbs, descend up- 
on them ; and when that melodious sound shall break 
through the clouds, as with the sound of a trumpet, 
f Awake, ye that dwell in dust, and sing.' Then 
they and we shall say one to another, 6 Let us be glad 
and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and 
his wife hath made herself ready.' — But I must con- 
clude, and remain, 

Your affectionate and sympathizing brother, 

Ebenezer Erskine." 

The death of Mr. Balderston was speedily followed 
by another breach in his own family. The small-pox, 
that most fatal distemper in those days, cut off a very- 
dear girl, little more than three months after her mo- 
ther's decease. With what tenderness does he record 
this event ; and what meek submission and animating 
hope does he express in the following entry ! Even al- 
lowing that, at this time, and on some former occasions of 
the same kind, he may have attached a disproportionate 
importance to several little circumstances that occurred, 
who that knows the feelings of a parent would severely 
censure him for having put on these pleasing incidents 
an interpretation so natural and so soothing to a fa- 
ther's heart ? 

"Upon the 7th day of Dec. my dear, sweet, and 
pleasant child, Isabel Erskine, died of the small- 
pox, on the 9th day of the eruption. I got freedom, 



302 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



during her sickness, particularly the same forenoon be- 
fore she died, to present her before the Lord, and to 
plead his covenant on her behalf. The Lord enabled 
me to quit her freely unto him on this account, that he 
had a far better title to her than I. She is mine only 
as her earthly father ; but she is his by creation, by 
preservation, by dedication to him in baptism, and his 
also, I hope, by covenant and by redemption ; and there- 
fore I am persuaded that she is now his by glorification ; 
and that she is with the Lord Jesus, and with her dear 
mother, triumphing with God in glory. I had a parti- 
cular affection for the child, and doted but too much 
upon her, because she was the likest her mother of any 
of the children, both as to her countenance and humour. 
But I see that the Lord will not allow me to have any 
idols, but will have the whole of my heart to himself ; 
and, Lord, let it be so — Amen and amen. Though 
thou shouldest strip me naked of all that I have in the 
world, O happy exchange ! 

" I remember that a day or two before the child fell 
sick, she was in my closet. She and I being alone, I 
took her on my knee and dandled her, and she was 
very fond of me, took me round the neck and kissed 
me ; which engaged my heart very much. But my 
love and affection to the child filled me with a strong 
desire to have Christ formed in her soul, and thereupon 
I began to commend Christ to her. The Lord helped 
me to speak of Christ to her in such words as were 
suitable to her capacity, to which she seemed very at- 
tentive. Particularly, I told her, I remember, that 
she would die, and that it would be better to die and to 
go to heaven where Christ is, and where she would meet 
with her dear mother, than to be here ; at which words 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 303 

the dear child gave a broad look in my face, as if she 
had been taken with the thing. I bless the Lord who 
put it in my heart and mouth to converse with her 
at that time. I hope the Lord entered into her heart 
with what I said to her. She died pleasantly without 
any visible pang or throw ; her soul, I hope, being car- 
ried by angels into Abraham's bosom, and her body 
buried at her mother's side in the chapel burying- 
ground, Scotland-well, in her brother Alexander's 
grave. 

" I take it kindly that the Lord comes to my family 
to gather lillies, wherewith to garnish the upper sanc- 
tuary, 6 for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' And 
Oh ! it sometimes affords me a pleasing prospect to 
think that I have so much plenishin in heaven before 
me, and that when I enter the gates of glory, I shall 
not only be welcomed by the whole general assembly 
of saints and angels, but my wife and four pleasant 
babes will, in a particular manner, welcome me to those 
regions of glory, and I shall join in the hallelujahs of 
the higher house which shall never have an end." 

Nearly three years after the death of Isabella, his 
daughter Alison was seized with a dangerous illness, 
which gave fresh occasion to the exercise of Christian 
resignation. In the following entry relative to this 
dispensation, he strongly expresses his entire acquies- 
cence in the will of God. 

" September 26, 1723. My pleasant child Alice 
[afterwards Mrs. Scott,] has been ill of a fever this 
eight days past ; and this evening I went designedly 
to the throne in prayer on her behalf ; and I thought 
the Lord was pleased in some good measure to breathe 



304 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



upon me. I got not liberty, that I recollect of, to pray 
for her life and recovery ; but the Lord seemed to loose 
my heart from her, so that I got her surrendered freely 
to him, and I was made to say from the bottom of my 
soul, < Welcome Lord to come and pluck a flower in 
my family, if thou hast use for her in the upper para- 
dise/ Through grace I gave her anew to the Lord — 
gave her up to God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I 
find indeed a struggle from natural affection to quit her ; 
but the consideration of her being the Lord's more than 
mine balances it at present. The Lord help me to 
abide at it." 

It pleased God, however, to spare this promising 
flower in his family, to bring it to maturity, and to 
defer transplanting it to the celestial paradise, till for 
the long period of ninety-four years it had continued to 
shed its fragrance on the earth. 

Mr. Erskine himself, as appears from some of the 
above documents, was very unwell for some time after 
he became a widower. In one of his letters to Mrs. 
Balderston, he complains of a palpitation he felt in his 
heart as well as pains in his head ; and in the other, 
states his inability to preach for several Sabbaths, 
The sorrows of his heart produced injurious effects on 
his bodily frame, which seem to have lasted for three 
or four years. From these infirmities, however, he 
gradually recovered. Accordingly, in spring 1728, 
when it was urged as a reason for his translation to 
Kinross, that his situation at Portmoak was unfavoura- 
ble to his health, he expressed himself in these words : 

" I beg leave to say to the praise of the great Pre- 
server of men, that since my settlement in the parish of 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



305 



Portmoak, I have enjoyed as great a measure of health 
as my neighbours, who imagine they breathe a purer 
air. I own that within these seven years, I was 
threatened with a stagnation of blood, occasioned not 
by bad air, as I think, but by the melancholy which 
followed upon the decease of a dear relation. But 
whenever nature, with the good hand of God, sur- 
mounted that violent shock, I returned to my former 
good state of health, which, I bless the Lord, he has 
continued with me now these four years past."* 

Some time after the death of his wife and children, he 
caused a stone to be erected over her dust, in the chapel 
ground of Scotlandwell, where it may still be seen. 
This monument is in a better state of preservation than 
the adjacent one, commemorative of Margaret Halcro, 
her mother-in-law. Both are placed horizontally, and 
supported by small pillars. The inscription on Mrs. 
Erskine's monument is as follows : 

Here lies the valuable dust of 
Alison Turpie, spouse to Mr Ebenezer Erskine, 
Minister of the Gospel in Portmoak, 
Who departed to glory, after she had 
Borne ten children, four of which lie here 
Interred with her. She died August 31, 1720, 
Aged 39 years. 
Henry Erskine, born August 6, 1705. 
Departed June 8, 1713. 
Alexander, born July 20, 1708. 
Departed June 20, 1713. 



* Portmoak MS. 



306 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Ralph, born January 17, 1712. 
Died April , 1713. 
Isabel, born July 21, 1716. 
Died December 7, 1720. 

The law brought forth her precepts ten, 
And then dissolved in grace ; 

This saint ten children bore, and then 
In glory took her place. 



Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the 
dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead. 

Isaiah xxvi. 19. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 307 



CHAPTER VII. 

Mr. Erskine' s second marriage — Death of his Mother, and of his 
Brother's wife — Various unsuccessful attempts to remove him 
from Portmoak — Calls to Burntisland and Tulliallan — Proposal 
from the parish of Saline — Call to Kirkaldy prevented notwith- 
standing the wishes of the people — Call to Kinross — Call and 
Translation to Stirling — Lasting friendship between Mr. 
Erskine and the people of Portmoak — Importance of his new 
charge — His predecessors and colleagues — Diligence, faithful- 
ness, and success. 

Christians of every class, and in particular the mi- 
nisters of the Gospel, have often found cause to adore 
the inscrutable but righteous agency of Providence in 
the diversified afflictions allotted to them in the same 
day of adversity. A coincidence of this description is 
very observable in the public and private trials of his 
faith and patience assigned to Mr. Erskine. The years 
1713, 1714, and 1715, were marked by the trouble and 
vexation resulting from the imposition of the Abjuration 
Oath on the clergy of Scotland, while the year 1720 
was the date of that memorable Act of Assembly con- 
demning the Marrow, which gave rise to much contro- 
versy and obloquy ; and all these years were at the 
same time seasons of great affliction and mortality in 
his domestic circle. Yet under the pressure of com- 
plicated distress his soul was upheld by the aids of di- 



308 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



vine grace ; nor did the aspect of Providence wear a 
continual frown. Light frequently arose in the midst 
of darkness ; alleviations of trouble were seasonably af- 
forded ; and in the manner that seemed good to infinite 
wisdom, the sorrows of adversity were tempered by the 
joys of prosperity. 

His grief for the loss of Alison Turpie, his excellent 
wife, was deep and lasting. Two years after her death, 
he expresses his affectionate regret in the following 
words, written on the title page of one of his Note- 
books : 

" Ebenezer Erskine, August 31, 1722, the same day 
two years since, my dearest, the wife of my youth and 
the wife of my bosom, departed to glory. Lord, pre- 
pare me to follow her." 

Nevertheless, when the circumstances of his six mo- 
therless children surviving are considered, it is not 
wonderful that he himself and his best friends judged 
it proper for him to enter a second time into the bonds 
of marriage. Aware of the importance of this step, 
he earnestly solicited the Divine direction and bless- 
ing. 

In the year 1721, he records his exercise in the fol- 
lowing terms. After noticing the holy boldness with 
which he was encouraged at all times to approach the 
throne of grace, he expresses his persuasion that it was 
the Lord's will he should ask another help-meet, and 
thus proceeds : 

" Accordingly I fell down before the Lord to seek 
his counsel in the matter, and he put these or the like 
words in my mouth. ' Oh Lord my God in Christ, it 
has pleased thee, in thy holy and adorable providence, 
to bring me into a state of widowhood, by taking away 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



309 



the very desire of mine eyes. I bless thee with my 
soul for the desirable loan that thou gavest me of my 

dear wife. * And O Lord, as thou didst choose a 

help-meet for me, when I did not ask it, so now, seeing 
thou hast brought me into this solitary life, if it be thy 
mind that I should seek after another help for me, 
I lay the burden of the choice upon thee. Thou hast 
hitherto helped; I trust that thou wilt still help. Lord, 
take the guiding of my affections and inclinations in 
this matter into thy own hand ; for I give them up en- 
tirely to thee, that thou mayest manage them. If it 
be not meet that I should be alone, Lord show the 
woman whom thou designest for me, and thy choice 
shall be my choice. O Lord, hear, help, and pity, and 
do all for the sake of thine anointed." 

His first intentions with regard to this important af- 
fair are more particularly stated in the following entry : 

" August 8, 1722. In the midst of secret prayer I 
was directed to seek of the Lord, that he would provide 
a help-meet for me, and a mother meet for my poor 
motherless children. And particularly, seeing he had 
inclined my heart and affections towards that desirable 
person , and seeing there seemed to be a concur- 
rence of Providences leading me to fix upon her, par- 
ticularly a joyful consent of all my friends and well- 
wishers to whom this matter is imparted, and seeing he 
had put it into the heart of some dear to himself to 
pray for success to the design, I was encouraged to 
plead, and in some measure to believe, notwithstanding 
some discouragement, that He who has the heart in his 

* The sentences respecting his first wife here omitted have 
been quoted p. 83. 



310 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



hand, and turns it as the rivers of water, would incline 
her heart to a compliance with the proposal in his own 
time and way." 

The pious in all ages have justly considered humble 
supplication as an appointed and an efficacious means 
of obtaining not only spiritual blessings, but also tem- 
poral benefits really conducive to their good. Nor do 
they entertain an irrational or unscriptural fancy, when 
they regard that devout enlargement and satisfaction of 
spirit, with which they may be enabled to solicit some 
outward comfort, as calculated to confirm their per- 
suasion that the God of providence will either actually 
grant them that particular mercy, or otherwise arrange 
their affairs in a manner more subservient to their ulti- 
mate welfare. There is no just cause, however, to 
consider the comfortable impressions they may feel at 
the throne of grace, as intended to assure them that the 
temporal blessing requested shall certainly be given. 
A tendency to view such impressions in this propheti- 
cal light w r as very common, it appears, among good 
people in this country in the early part of the last cen- 
tury ; and even men of vigorous minds, as Colonel 
Blackader* and the subject of this memoir, were not 
altogether superior to these prevailing misconceptions. 

The remarks of President Edwards on this topic are 
worthy of notice, f Speaking of what is implied in 
God's accepting the supplications of his people, he ob- 
serves that " He sometimes manifests his acceptance of 
their prayers by special discoveries of his mercy and 

* See Crichton's Life and Diary of L. C. Blackader, ch. vii. 
pp. 149-151. 

f See Practical Sermons, pp. 68, 69. Edin. Ed. 1788. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERS&INE. 311 



sufficiency, which he makes in prayer, or immediately 
after." This is illustrated by the experience of Hannah, 
as recorded 1st Sam. i. 13. But the judicious author 
adds, " Not that I conclude that persons can hence ar- 
gue that the particular thing which they ask will cer- 
tainly be given them, or that they can particularly 
foretel from it what God will do in answer to their 
prayers, any farther than he has promised in his word. 
Yet God may, and doubtless does thus testify his accep- 
tance of their prayers, and from hence they may confi- 
dently rest in his providence, in his merciful ordering 
and disposing with respect to the thing which they 
ask." 

The course of providence, one should think, as well 
as the lessons of Scripture, might have served to cor- 
rect the mistake in question ; for, though events occa- 
sionally corresponded, they often proved contrary to 
the hopes that were founded on impressions. We have 
seen, for instance, that Mr. Erskine's son, Henry, died 
of his distemper, although two female friends told him 
they had " got great assurances of his life."* On this 
occasion too, notwithstanding the encouragement he 
took from the appearances of providence, and from the 
prayers of pious intimates to " believe" that the design 
would succeed, the expected union did not take place. 

It pleased God, however, to give him a second part- 
ner, and one who was much recommended to him by 
her relation to a father in the ministry, whom he held 
in great veneration for his piety, and his zealous efforts 
in the cause of evangelical truth. His gratitude to 
God for this new providential favour, and his solicitude 



* Page 269. 



312 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

» 

to obtain the divine blessing on the interesting con- 
nection in immediate prospect, appear from the follow- 
ing sentences, extracted from an entry relating to this 
subject : 

" Thursday, January 16, 1724. This night eight 
nights is the time fixed upon for my marriage with 
Miss Mary Webster, the worthy daughter of that 
worthy champion for the truth and cause of Christ, 
Mr. James Webster. Much of the Lord's hand has 
been seen in carrying on this design hitherto. And 
now this night between 10 and 111 fell down on my 
knees, saying to this effect ; < Oh my God, my Father 
who art in heaven, and my blessed Elder Brother and 
Priest who art passed into the heavens, I invite, I en- 
treat thy presence to my marriage with thy handmaid. 
My father and her father are among the ransomed com- 
pany that are singing thy praises before the throne ; 
and therefore I plead and pray that thou mayest show 
so much kindness to their children as to countenance 
us in this design with thy presence ; seeing thou hast 
said, I will be their God and the God of their seed, and 
will show mercy to thousands of them that love me and 
keep my commandments. Doubtless thou art my Fa- 
ther, thou art my Father, and thy name is from ever- 
lasting. Oh my Elder Brother, who lovedst me and 
gavest thyself for me, thou didst accept of an invitation 
to the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and honour it with 
thy bodily presence, and there thou showedst forth thy 
glory ; may I hope and believe that thou wilt accept of 
this invitation, and grace my marriage with thy spi- 
ritual presence ? I shall reckon this an honour in- 
deed. 

" O Lord thou art my God, I will prepare thee an 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



313 



habitation ; my Father's God, and I will exalt thee. O 
let the God of the bride, and her father's God, come 
along with her to this family. Let her come as a 
blessing to me, and as a blessing to the children whom 
thou hast given me ; and O dwell with her and me and 
the little ones ; and then, though we live in a solitary 
place, we shall not be a solitary family, but the voice 
of melody and of rejoicing shall be heard in this taber- 
nacle, as in the tabernacles of the righteous. O let us 
be a blessed couple in the Lord ; let us live in the 
Lord, and die in the Lord, and love one another in 
the Lord. O turn not away my prayer, nor thy mercy 
from me." 

This marriage was accordingly celebrated on Thurs- 
day, January 23, 1724, about three years and five 
months after the death of Alison Turpie. His second 
wife became also the mother of several children, and 
was spared with him till March 1751. 

His affectionate endeavours to secure the comfort of 
his surviving " little ones" did not prevent the discharge 
of filial duty to Margaret Halcro, his venerable mo- 
ther. In an entry dated July 22, 1722, he says, " I 
devoted myself and my children by name unto the 
Lord, and was helped to pray for them that the grace 
of God might rest on them — and on my aged mother" 
She died at his house in Portmoak, as has been stated,* 
January 14, 1725, about a twelvemonth after his mar- 
riage with Miss Webster. 

A few years after having dropt the tear of sorrow 

* Pages 41, 42. 
P 



314 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



over the remains of his beloved mother, his compas- 
sionate feelings were excited anew by the death of 
Margaret Dewar, the much esteemed wife of his 
brother Ralph. Having himself experienced the sym- 
pathy of Ralph under a similar painful bereavement 
ten years before, he did not fail, in his turn, to give 
equal evidence of brotherly attachment and condolence 
on this mournful occasion. Among other marks of his 
attention, he preached for him on the Sabbath imme- 
diately following the day of her interment, as appears 
from a memorandum placed at the head of a sermon 
in manuscript on Heb. ii. 10, — " To make the Captain 
of their salvation perfect through sufferings." 

" Dunfermline, the Sabbath after the death of my 
sister-in-law, November 29, 1730. My sister died the 
Sabbath afternoon before." 

Amidst the numerous vicissitudes he experienced in 
a private capacity, Ebenezer Erskine was enabled to 
pursue an honourable and most useful career in his 
public character as a minister of Christ. His popula- 
rity seems to have progressively increased ; and while 
he distinguished himself alike by an assiduous discharge 
of pastoral duty, and by his public services to the 
cause of truth, it is not wonderful that he attracted the 
notice of parishes more populous and considerable 
than that of Portmoak. The attachment, however, 
which he felt to his original charge was strong ; and 
when repeated efforts were made to remove him, he 
discovered great caution and prudence, humble resig- 
nation to the will of providence, and an inclination ra- 
ther to submit to hardships than rashly to dissolve a 
sacred and an endearing connection. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 315 

The first attempt to translate him, of which we have 
discovered any trace, was made at Burntisland. In 
January 1712, some time after the translation of the 
Rev. John Cleghorn from that parish to Wemyss, a 
moderation took place in the church of Burntisland, at 
which two candidates were proposed — Mr. Erskine of 
Portmoak, and a Mr. William Duguid, a probationer. 
The heritors, magistrates, and elders appear to have 
been almost equally divided betwixt the two ; and in 
consequence the Presbytery " agreed by a plurality of 
votes to lay aside the calls for both candidates." * The 
friends of Mr. Duguid protested and appealed to the 
superior courts, and ultimately obtained, what was then 
a most obnoxious novelty, a royal presentation from 
Queen Anne in his favour ; but circumstances occurred 
by which their hopes were blasted and their exertions 
rendered abortive. 

In the year following a second and more auspicious 
attempt was formed to break asunder the tie by which 
the minister of Portmoak and his people were united. 
An earnest and unanimous call was given him by the 
parishioners of Tulliallan, including the town of 
Kincardine, on the banks of the Forth. At a meeting 
of Presbytery at Kirkaldy in May 1713, commissioners 
from that parish and from the Presbytery of Dunblane 
appeared, and presented a " Call subscribed by heri- 
tors, elders, and masters of families,'' with " Reasons 
for transportation," and a formal Invitation subscribed 
by the Ministers of that Presbytery. At a subsequent 
meeting at Dysart on the 11th June, the Presbytery 
gave judgment in the cause. Parties being fully 



• Rec. of Presb. of Kirk. Feb. 14, 1712. 



316 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



heard, and " one of the members having prayed for 
light and direction in this weighty affair," it was car- 
ried unanimously not transport. But Colonel John 
Erskine, " principal Heritor of the parish of Tullial- 
lan," protested against the decision, and appealed to 
the Synod of Fife. It thus became necessary to ap- 
point a member to answer the reasons of appeal. The 
following paragraph in the answers, which were pre- 
pared by Mr. Wardrope, approved by the Presbytery, 
and laid on the Synod's table, seems worthy of inser- 
tion : 

The commissioners from Tulliallan had drawn an 
argument from the circumstance, that the object of 
their choice had submitted to ordination at Portmoak 
on the condition that, on his receiving a " unanimous 
call to another place, they would transport him ; and 
not only so, but the Presbytery had allowed him an act 
of transportability." In reply to this reason the Presby- 
tery express themselves thus : 

" We answer, there was indeed an act of transporta- 
bility granted to Mr. Erskine at his admission ; but 
that in granting thereof we had an eye to the disagree- 
ableness of the air at Portmoak to his constitution ; 
this we absolutely refuse. And further we say, there 
would be a great deal of weight in this act of transpor- 
tability, if Mr. Erskine himself were urgent and im- 
portunate for this transportation ; but nothing like this 
appears. There is not one paragraph in the paper 
given in by him to the Presbytery showing his inclina- 
tion this way ; but, on the contrary, he evidenced his 
great love and entire affection to the parish of Port- 
moak, and his readiness to be spent in his Master's 
work among that people, adding, that he would look 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 317 



upon it as a new call from God to labour among them, 
should the Presbytery of Kirkaldy contin ue him there : 
Which, with the parish of Portmoak's unanimous in- 
clination to have him continued among them, and the 
consideration of the difficulty which appeared unavoid- 
able in settling Portmoak again with an able faithful 
Gospel minister, as matters now stand ( verbum sapi- 
enti sat est* ) — we say these things had weight with 
us to continue our Reverend and dear Brother, Mr. 
Erskine, at Portmoak ; and it is hoped they will have 
weight with this reverend judicatory, to confirm our 
sentence and not ranverse the same."f 

The following entry in the Diary breathes the same 
resigned and disinterested spirit with the declaration he 
subsequently made to the Presbytery, and still further 
demonstrates his entire sincerity in that public declara- 
tion : 

* Sabbath, March 29, 1713. After 10 at night, I 

went to secret prayer. In regard I have at this 

time the prospect of a call to the parish of Tulliallan, 
O Lord, clear up my duty in this matter unto me, and 
let me not be led by my own inclination. If it be for thy 
glory and for the good of souls, I am content to go ; 
and if thou hast any use for me in this place, I am con- 
tent to stay, and bear with inconveniences. My bur- 
den will be light, if thou wilt clear up duty to me in 
this matter. I commit my way unto the Lord, and 
therefore I believe that he will direct my path. I roll 

* " A word to the wise is enough." The Presbytery obviously 
allude to the great difficulties arising from the unhappy revival 
of the law of patronage. 

~f- Rec. of Presb. of Kirk* 



318 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the affair over on him who has the stars in his right 
hand, and the government upon his shoulders, and who 
appoints the bounds of my habitation. I arose from 
prayer, hoping and believing that God will order this 
affair to the best, and direct me so to carry in it as that 
the Gospel may not sustain any prejudice through my 
miscarriage. ,, 

The Synod of Fife, at their meeting the 30th Sep- 
tember 1713, by a great majority, affirmed the sen- 
tence of the Presbytery, and continued Mr. Erskine at 
Portmoak. " Colonel John Erskine, in his own name, 
and in the name of the parish of Tulliallan, appealed to 
the Commission of the General Assembly to meet at 
Edinburgh the second Wednesday of November next."* 
But the appeal was fruitless ; the Commission, after 
hearing the papers and speeches of the parties, ratified 
the decision of the Presbytery and Synod. 

Notwithstanding the disappointment thus sustained 
by the parish of Tulliallan, the people of Saline, about 
two years after, conceived a strong affection for this mi- 
nister as a person well qualified to repair the heavy loss 
they had suffered in the death of Mr. Plenderleath ; 
and at first cherished the hope that he might be per- 
suaded to acquiesce in their request. This proposal, 
however, in consequence of the discouragement which 
Mr. Erskine himself considered it his duty promptly to 
give it, was speedily relinquished. All that we know 
of the matter is contained in the following extracts from 
his journal : 

" P. July — , 1715. [After the account of his 
* Records of the Synod of Fife. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 319 

preaching at Saline, formerly quoted, * he mentions his 
being called to visit an excellent Christian dying of a 
decay, and then adds ;] As I was going to visit this 
person, Mr. Geddie, who went along with me, told me 
that he had a commission from the heritors and elders 
of the parish to tell me that their eyes were centered 
upon me, and that they had a design to call me to be 
their minister, and desired me to have my thoughts on 
it till the next Sabbath, at Dunfermline, where the sa- 
crament is to be administered, expecting that I will 
then declare my mind with respect to this matter. The 
Lord pity, and give light and direction in it. The 
stipend is less, the people there are more unruly, and 
the dwelling-house is worse than here. Yet, if my 
heart do not deceive me — though I have no inclination 
to leave this place — I would be content to go any 
where, where Christ, my great Master, has service for 
me, if I might be more instrumental to convert and 
bring in souls to his obedience* Lord, give light, that 
I may return an answer to that people." 

" July 13. On Monday last, in the afternoon, I 
conversed at Dunfermline with Mr. Geddie, school- 
master in Saline, anent the proposal which he made to 
me in the name of the heritors and elders of the parish 
of Saline. My answer to him was to this purpose — 
that I was willing to serve the Lord in any part of his 
vineyard which he should please to call me to ; that he 
had already fixed me in Portmoak, and I could not 
give my consent to my removal from that place, but 
would oppose it : though if the Lord over-ruled the af- 
fair against any opposition I made to it, I should be sa- 



* Page 283. 



320 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tisfied to be determined by the issue of Providence ; — 
that I did not incline to run before, but to follow after, 
the motions of Providence. I told him that I had no 
grievances to speak of in the parish of Portmoak, except 
it were the unwholesome stance of the manse, and now, 
I believed, it was become a second nature to me ; 
whereas I did not know what I might meet with in the 
parish of Saline, especially if I should give my counte- 
nance to, or had an active hand in my own transporta- 
tion; and therefore I advised them to look for ano- 
ther." 

A renewed effort to change the sphere of this minis- 
ter's labours took place in the year 1724, shortly after 
the Marrow Controversy had given increased publicity 
to his character, and while the passions excited by the 
agitation of that memorable contest had not got suffi- 
cient time in almost any degree to subside. These cir- 
cumstances serve to account both for the ardent wishes 
of the population of Kirkaldy to obtain him, and for 
the determined, perhaps resentful, policy, with which 
the intended call was obstructed and prevented. Mr. 
Henry Dall, the first minister in that collegiate charge, 
having departed this life in February 1724, the heri- 
tors, elders and people, with very few exceptions, soon 
fixed their eyes on Mr. Erskine as a most eligible per- 
son to succeed him. In compliance with their re- 
quest, a moderation was granted by the Presbytery. 
Mr. James Dickson was appointed to preach ; " Mr. 
Pitcairn and Mr. Cleghorn, or any one of them, to be 
his assistants." On the day of moderation, the 7th 
May, two candidates were put on the leet to supply 
the vacant charge, Mr. Erskine of Portmoak and Mr. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 321 



John Drysdale, then second minister of Kirkaldy. 
When the Moderator proposed the question, whether 
any person in the meeting objected against any of these 
two candidates, a Mr. Archibald Robertson, who pro- 
fessed to be commissioned by the tutors of Sir James 
Wemyss of Bogie, protested against Mr. Erskine being 
in the leet. The principal reason he alleged for this 
protest, indeed the only reason at all relating to Mr. 
Erskine's character, was the line of conduct this minis- 
ter had pursued with regard to the Marrow Contro- 
versy ; respecting which the Protester expressed him- 
self in the following terms : 

" Mr. Erskine's disaffection and disobedience to the 
constitution of this church is manifestly evident, in 
that he did not only join with the other eleven Breth- 
ren in presenting a Remonstrance to the General As- 
sembly, containing many injurious reflections, but 
likewise, when the said Remonstrance was condemned, 
and the foresaid Brethren admonished and rebuked 
therefore, (Act 7th, Assembly 1722,) they were so far 
from being gained by this lenity — their offence deserv- 
ing a much higher censure, as the Assembly at the 
same time declared — that a Protestation was offered by 
some of them against this Act of Assembly, the highest 
and last Judicature in this Church, — Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine and all the rest of these Brethren adhering 
thereto, or at least none of them reclaiming as they 
ought to have done ; which 1 conceive to have been a 
crime of the highest nature against the constitution and 
unity of this Church. Further, that Mr. Erskine, 
ever since that time, has given no evidence of his 
change of mind in these things for which he was re- 
buked and admonished, as aforesaid ; but, on the con* 



322 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



trary, given shrewd presumptions on several occasions 
of his stiff adherence thereto. Therefore he is a per- 
son improper for a call or transportation from the place 
wherein he resides, and much more incapable of being 
upon the leet, in order to a call or transportation to 
such an important charge as Kirkaldy is. And upon 
the whole, I further protest that there be no modera- 
tion of any call to the present vacancy, if Mr. Erskine 
shall be allowed to be on the leet, till once the mind of 
the Presbytery be obtained on the reasons of the fore- 
said protestation." 

In consequence of this frivolous protest, the Mode- 
rator declined proceeding till the Presbytery had an 
opportunity of discussing its relevancy, alleging that 
" the objections made against one of the candidates 
seem to him to be of great weight and moment /" Mr. 
Pitcairn of Dysart, mean time, much to his honour, 
disapproved of the Moderator's conduct in stopping 
farther procedure. His disapprobation was founded 
on these two grounds — that Mr. Robertson, who threw 
in the paper of objections against Mr. Erskine, was 
" acting only by virtue of a controverted proxy, who 
had no concern with or in the parish of Kirkaldy f — 
and that nothing in that paper was sufficient to justify 
the uncommon step the Moderator had taken ; for 
" instead of any thing new against Mr. Erskine, it tells 
the old story of the Representation," &c. The people 
too, were highly displeased at this unwarrantable sist- 
ing of procedure. " Dunnikeir,"* it is stated, " pro- 
tested that this procedure of the Moderator is contrary 

* This gentleman is afterwards styled " Mr. James Oswald of 
Punnikeir." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



323 



to the practice of the Church and law of the land, and 
that it may be leisum [lawful] to us to present a call 
to the Presbytery in favour of Mr. Ebenezer Erskine 
in another form than by a moderation, and therefore 
took instruments." 

Minutely to detail the proceedings in this singular 
affair, which occupies a great number of pages in the 
Records both of the Presbytery of Kirkaldy and the 
Synod of Fife, could conduce but little either to the en- 
tertainment or instruction of the reader. Suffice it to 
notice a few particulars, including the result of the 
whole. — When the Moderator presented his Report, 
the Presbytery, " after reasoning, allowed that the 
Brother might have proceeded in the moderation not- 
withstanding the objections ; but found no reason to 
condemn the delay, as it proceeded from a principle of 
caution." At several successive meetings, however, 
they pertinaciously refused, in despite of the urgent and 
reiterated solicitations of the people, to appoint a new 
moderation. For this refusal they found a plausible 
pretext, particularly in the measures adopted by a cer- 
tain individual, who was said to have formerly annoyed 
the good Mr. Wardrope when minister of Kirkaldy, 
and who now made himself notorious by outrageously 
opposing Mr. Erskine. This gentleman laid on the 
Presbytery's table a paper abounding with the most 
virulent invectives against him ; but, like Robertson's 
protest, founded merely on the affair of the Marrow, 
and parallel to the calumnious charges adverted to in a 
foregoing chapter. Mr. Erskine demanded a copy of 
this abusive paper, expressing at the same time his hope 
that his Brethren would have the candour to consider 
this request as not at all indicating his mind relative to 



324 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the proposed call. After some delay, the request was 
complied with ; and at a subsequent meeting he read a 
spirited paper, repelling the aspersions which had been 
cast upon him, and comprising some strictures on the 
conduct of his accuser. The accuser, incensed at this 
retort, presented a formal libel against him ; but the 
moment he laid it on the table, he was himself served 
with a libel, subscribed by Messrs. David Sibbald, 
Andrew Kay, jun. and several other inhabitants of 
Kirkaldy, and charging him with " malignant impreca- 
tions" against the Rev. Messrs. Bathgate and Erskine, 
and with various acts of immorality. 

At a meeting of Presbytery the 18th June 1724, 
the commissioners from Kirkaldy solicited the grant of 
a new moderation, with permission to put Mr. Erskine 
in the leet. They also laid the draught of a Call to 
him on the table, craving permission to subscribe it im- 
mediately before them. But both these requests being 
peremptorily denied, they protested and appealed to the 
Synod of Fife. The Presbytery, too, after spending a 
number of days at different meetings in a laborious ex- 
amination of witnesses, at last referred the whole affair 
of the libels to the Synod, " and earnestly crave that 
they may take the same into their own hand, and bring 
it to a final issue." 

The Synod used their endeavours to compose the 
personal difference which had taken place betwixt Mr. 

Erskine and W , of B . Owing greatly to the 

forgiving and conciliatory spirit of the former, they suc- 
ceeded in persuading them to withdraw their libellous 
papers against each other ; and " appointed the Modera- 
tor to admonish and exhort them to a Christian beha- 
viour towards one another in time coming." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 325 

The Commissioners from Kirkaldy, however, were 
foiled in the public cause in which they felt so deeply 
interested. Having obtained no redress from the Sy- 
nod, they protested and appealed to the General As- 
sembly which met in May 1725. The Assembly re- 
ferred the matter to their Commission, with instructions 
to discuss it at their first meeting. The Commission, 
therefore, took it under consideration immediately after 
the rising of Assembly ; and, after hearing the parties 
concerned, including the Rev. Alexander Anderson, a 
member of the Synod of Fife, whose violent philippic 
against Mr. Erskine was formerly noticed, they passed 
a final sentence, which completely thwarted the wishes, 
and blasted the expectations of the people of Kirkaldy, 
with regard to Mr. Erskine. 

The truth seems to be, that the ruling clergy enter- 
tained inveterate prejudices against all the Brethren 
concerned in the Representation against the Act of As- 
sembly condemning the Marrow, and were determined, 
to the utmost of their power, to prevent the translation 
of any one of them to a more conspicuous or influential 
sphere in the church. Mr. Boston accordingly states, 
that his physicians having assured him that the air of 
Ettrick was extremely injurious to his health, he had 
ground to hope the Church would have removed him 
to a parish more favourable to his bodily constitution, 
" till I fell under their displeasure," adds that worthy 
man, " in the affair of the Marrow, which I reckon to 
have staked me down in Ettrick." 

Mr. Erskine, however, had entertained no wish to be 
transferred to Kirkaldy, and was neither chafed nor 
disappointed at the result of the process. — " The town 
and parish of Kirkaldy," says he, " having cast their eyes 



326 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



upon me for supplying their present vacancy, contrary 
to my inclination and earnest entreaty, both in private 
and public, were pleased to push the design of my trans- 
portation to them from one judicatory to another, till it 
came before the Assembly." " I very heartily acquiesce," 
he says again, " in the sentence of the Reverend Com- 
mission continuing me minister of Portmoak. I adore 
him who hath the stars in his right hand, who ever fixed 
me in that corner of his vineyard, where, I hope, I shall 
have my crown and rejoicing in the day of the Lord. 
And, therefore, whatever might have been the particular 
views, either of persons or judicatories, or however un- 
favourable their sentiments or sentences have been 
meant, yet, I can freely declare they have not crossed 
my inclination in that determination : and I have no 
manner of resentment against the judicatories of the 
Church on that head, for whom I desire to have all due 
deference in the Lord."* 

Yet such were his acknowledged qualifications for a 
more eminent sphere than that to which he was at first 
appointed, that neither the prejudices of offended cler- 
gymen, nor his own predilection for Portmoak, could 
prevent fresh attempts to remove him. Some time af- 
ter the death of his friend, Mr. M'Gill, of Kinross, the 
inhabitants of that town and parish honoured him with 
a unanimous and urgent call.f On Feb. 8, 1728, when 

* Apol. Pref. to Ser. on Rev. iii. 4. pp. iii. iv. vii. 

-J- The author has to acknowledge an inaccuracy respecting the 
date of the call to Kinross in the Memoir prefixed to the "Worlds 
of Mr. E. Erskine, p. xii. Before consulting the Records of 
Kirkaldy Presbytery, he had been led to conclude that the call to 
Kinross preceded the attempt to remove him to Kirkaldy. From 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



327 



the Rev. Thomas Mair and James Wardlaw laid this 
call on the Presbytery's table at Kirkaldy, the Modera- 
tor offered it to him, but he refused to take it into his 
hand. At the next meeting of Presbytery, which was 
held March 7th, the cause was discussed in the usual 
manner. The answers returned by the people of Port- 
moak to the reasons for translation, we may notice, 
discovered at once considerable ability, and a warm at- 
tachment to their Pastor. In their reply to one of these 
reasons, they admit that he is " a person of learning, 
and gravity, and eminent piety ; and, whereas the Com- 
missioners from Kinross commend him for affability 
and sweetness of temper, which serves to insinuate the 
exemplary piety of his conduct to all conversant with 
him, we own the sweetness of his temper, and the mild- 
ness of his manners, except in the matters of his God, 
for whom appearing and against sin, he is all in a holy 
flame, being very jealous for the Lord God of hosts ; 
and, through the bounty of heaven, he is above all our 
eulogies. He has nothing of his own ; and we wish our 
brethren of Kinross to consider that, though Paul may 
plant and Apollos water, there cannot be an increase 
without the divine blessing." 

The speech of Mr. Erskine himself was highly favour- 
able to the views of his parishioners. He began by 
stating, that he " blushed to think the judicatories 

those Records too, lie first learned that it was not strictly correct 
to speak of him as having been actually " called to Kirkaldy 
for though the people fully intended, and ardently wished to call 
him, their call was prevented by the conduct of the Moderator, 
and the subsequent procedure of the courts. These inaccuracies 
have been adopted also by another writer, in a short Memoir pre- 
fixed to the " Beauties of the Rev. E. E." p. xv. 



328 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



should have any trouble about an intended removal of 
him from that spot of the Lord's vineyard where he now 
laboured ; that he had used all imaginable pains, both 
with the parish of Kinross and the Presbytery of Dun- 
fermline, to prevent its coming to a public hearing ; but 
was now obliged to declare his mind in a public and 
judicial way." "In a consistency with what has al- 
ready passed," he added, " I declare myself absolutely 
against the transportation. Permit me to say, that I 
have now stood under a pastoral relation to the parish 
of Portmoak these twenty-four years and upwards ; dur- 
ing all which time, they and I have lived together in 
aniity and love. They have been dutiful to me in my 
ministerial work. As their call was at first unanimous, 
so at this day there is not a dissenter from my ministry 
in the whole parish. And, I dare to say, to the praise of 
sovereign grace, that I have not laboured altogether in 
vain, or spent my strength for nought. And seeing the 
pleasure of the Lord is in any small measure prospering 
among them ; and their hearts are knit to me as an in- 
strument however insignificant, I hope this Reverend 
Presbytery, who fixed my relation to them, will be very 
tender in dissolving it ; whereby both their hearts and 
mine would be grieved to the last degree." 

In conformity with Mr. Erskine's own wishes, thus 
feelingly expressed, the Presbytery unanimously agreed 
to continue the relation betwixt him and his original 
charge. The Commissioners from Kinross protested, 
and appealed to the Synod of Fife ; but the Synod, at 
their meeting 4th April, 1728, unanimously affirmed 
the sentence of the Presbytery. The disappointed 
Commissioners thought proper then to appeal to the 
General Assembly to meet the ensuing May ; but the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



329 



cause was finally decided against them, " to the great 
joy of the people of Portmoak."* 

' After the lapse of three years, nevertheless, this joy 
was turned into sorrow. A renewed attempt to deprive 
them of their beloved Pastor proved more successful 
than any of the five which had been previously made. 
The town and parish of Stirling having judged it ne- 
cessary to obtain another minister to co-operate with 
the Rev. Messrs. Hamilton and Muir in the labours of 
the Gospel, and having made a liberal arrangement for 
his support, fixed their eyes on Mr. Erskine, and gave 
him a most cordial invitation to settle amongst them. 
At a meeting of the Presbytery of Kirkaldy, May 27, 
1731, several clergymen and gentlemen appeared, in- 
cluding the Rev. Charles Muir, of Stirling, and John 
Gray, of Dollar, as representatives respectively of the 
Presbytery of Stirling, and of the Session and burgh of 
that town ; and " Bailie Wingate gave in a Call, sub- 
scribed by the magistrates and town-council, and elders 
of the burgh and congregation of Stirling, with the spe- 
cial advice, and unanimous consent of the whole com- 
munity thereof, as also with the consent of the present 
ministers thereof, to the said Mr. Ebenezer Erskine at 
Portmoak to be one of the ministers of Stirling, duly 
attested by Mr. William Campbell, minister of Alloa,"f 
and sustained by the Presbytery of Stirling, the 29th 
April preceding. " Then they gave in a long paper, sub- 
scribed by many heads of families of the said burgh and 

* The Portmoak MS. contains a full account of the proceedings 
relative to the Call from Kinross, 
■j- Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 



330 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



parish, and duly attested by the said Mr. Campbell, 
which was also read." After some farther statements, 
it folldws : " Then the Moderator did offer the call to 
Mr. Erskine, which he desired to lay in the Presby- 
tery's hand." The customary steps were taken to pave 
the way for the deciding of the cause at next meeting 
of Presbytery. 

The people of Portmoak, meantime, to their great 
surprise and regret, learned from their minister's cau- 
tion and reserve on this occasion, that he was not so 
unwilling to leave them as before. For this alteration 
in the state of his mind they alleged a variety of rea- 
sons. The ravages which death had made among the 
most estimable members of his session and congrega- 
tion ; some private dissensions that had occurred among 
his elders ; an apparent declension of that ardour with 
which the people had been accustomed to engage in the 
exercises of the sanctuary ; and the powerful influence 
which the character and reasonings of the Rev. Mr. 
Hamilton had on his mind — each of these was assigned 
as a probable cause of the change. Nor need we won- 
der to find that it was attributed by some to the wishes 
and entreaties of a female relative. It was imagined 
that the second Mrs. Erskine, being a native of Edin- 
burgh, was partial to a large town, and urged her hus- 
band to embrace this favourable opportunity of remov- 
ing from the sequestered village of Portmoak. The 
truth is, that the fair prospect of more extensive useful- 
ness, added to other circumstances, which he considered 
as indicating the will of heaven, was, in all probability, 
the principal cause of his willingness to leave a charge 
to which he had been so long and so firmly attached. 
No one, who views with attention or candour, the man- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 831 

ner in which he conducted himself on the different pre- 
vious occasions when his translation was proposed or 
requested, will impute his present resolution to precipi- 
tance or ambition, or to the predominating influence 
of worldly motives. We have ample ground to conclude 
that he was prompted by those high considerations 
which are well stated in a Memoir lately published : 

" A change of destination in the life of a minister," 
says the author of that valuable work, "is at all times 
a subject of grave consideration. He can take no step, 
in the consequences of which others are not deeply in- 
volved as well as himself. ... If the glory of God 
and conversion of immortal souls is the grand object of 
which, as a minister, he is never to lose sight, no- 
thing less than a deliberate and well-founded convic- 
tion that this is likely to be promoted by the step con- 
templated, ought to determine his removal ; more espe- 
cially from a scene where his labours have been owned 
and blessed."* 

At all events, the desired translation took place. At 
a meeting of Presbytery at Kirkaldy on the 17th June, 
when the Commissioners from Stirling, including the 
Rev. Alexander Hamilton, and those from Portmoak, 
had been fully heard, Mr. Erskine himself made a 
speech, in which, while he expressed his esteem and af- 
fection for his people, he submitted the matter to the 
determination of the Court ; and, in consequence, 
when the votes were taken, " it carried nem. contrad.f 
< Transport ;' and the Presbytery did, and hereby do 

* Grimshawe's Mem. of the Rev. Legh Richmond, Ch. vi, 
p. 100. 2d ed. 

•f Without a dissenting voice. 



332 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



transport Mr. Erskine from Portmoak to be one of the 
ministers of Stirling, and recommend his settlement 
there betwixt and the first Tuesday of September 
next."* Portmoak was, accordingly, " declared va- 
cant" on the last Sabbath of August ; and Mr. Erskine 
was admitted at Stirling, we believe, on Tuesday the 
6th September, 1731. 

His farewell sermon at Portmoak was preached from 
Acts xx. 22. " And now behold I go bound in the spi- 
rit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall 
befall me there." " This was a sorrowful day," says 
the writer of a manuscript to which we have frequently 
referred, f " both to him and his people. The retro- 
spect of twenty-eight years of great felicity which were 
for ever gone, and the uncertainty of what might fol- 
low, bathed their faces with tears, and awoke the voice 
of mourning and woe throughout the congregation, for 
the loss of a pastor, the constant object of whose minis- 
try was to recommend to their souls the exalted Re- 
deemer in his person, offices, and grace — who had la- 
boured to rouse the inconsiderate to repentance and 
serious concern ; and who had not failed, when religious 
impressions took place, to preserve and promote them 
with unwearied diligence. They had always found in 
him the affection of a father, and brother, and friend. 
Even when he administered the merited reproof, or 
sounded the necessary alarm, they knew it flowed from 
an affectionate heart, which, while lamenting their sins, 
loved their precious souls. So much was the minister 

* Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 
f Portmoak MS. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



333 



himself affected, that it was with much difficulty he 
could proceed till he reached the end of the doctrinal 
part of his discourse, when he was obliged to pause ; 
and, overcome with grief, concluded abruptly, saying, 
4 My friends, I find that neither you nor I can bear the 
application of this subject.' " 

Notwithstanding the dissolution of the pastoral rela- 
tion between this affectionate minister and the people 
of Portmoak, they still cherished for each other a cor- 
dial regard. One or two individuals removed with him 
to Stirling, merely to enjoy the benefit of his ministry. 
Many more of them wished that circumstances had ad- 
mitted of a similar removal. All of them continued to 
regard him with sincere veneration ; and his memory is 
still dear to the hearts of their posterity. Nor did Mr. 
Erskine fail, on his part, to reciprocate their kindness. 
He showed particular attention to such of them as came 
to reside in his neighbourhood. When others had oc- 
casion, in the course of business, to make visits to Stir- 
ling, he received them with unfeigned cordiality, gave 
them pious and animating counsels, and made very kind 
and particular inquiries respecting his old parishioners. 
As often as his avocations allowed, he visited Portmoak, 
and refreshed them by his evangelical discourses and 
friendly attentions. His last visit was made in July 
1747, when he had undertaken to give his services on 
a Sabbath at Kinross. He no sooner appeared than 
they crowded around him with affectionate eagerness, 
and entreated him to preach to them before his depar- 
ture. With this request he cheerfully complied ; and, 
on a Friday, at Easter Balgedie, a village in the parish 
of Portmoak, delivered an excellent sermon from Psalm 



334 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



xxv. 9. " The meek will he guide in judgment ; the 
meek will he teach his way." 

Owing to a variety of difficulties, arising chiefly from 
the rigorous enforcement of the law of patronage, Port- 
moak continued vacant for several years, after sustain- 
ing the loss of Mr. Erskine. At last a Mr. Robert 
Douglas was ordained there in May 1735, who was re- 
moved by death in 1742. He was succeeded by Mr. 
John Mudie, who was settled in September 1743 ; and 
whose son, Mr. John Mudie, was in summer 1754 ap- 
pointed his assistant and successor.* 

From the first rise of the Secession, in which Mr. 
Erskine acted so prominent a part, a considerable pro- 
portion of his old hearers at Portmoak espoused that 
cause, and became members of the Associate congrega- 
tions formed in several adjacent parishes, as Kinross, 
Orwell, and Leslie. No congregation, however, of that 
communion, so far as we know, was erected within the 
bounds of the parish of Portmoak till about the year 
1800, when a place of worship was built at Balgedie. 
The late Rev. William Gibson, the first pastor of the 
people assembling in that house, whose excellent talents, 
endearing dispositions, and truly Christian deportment, 
will long be remembered by his people and his friends ; 
was ordained in August 1811, and died the 15th Jan. 
1829.+ 

The importance of the new sphere of exertion as- 
* Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 

-f- See an interesting account of Mr. Gibson, composed by one 
of his hearers. Theol. Mag. vol. iv. pp. 398-402. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



335 



signed to Mr. Erskine is obvious. Distinguished alike 
for its beautiful and romantic scenery, its high antiqui- 
ty, its ancient honours as the residence of kings, and its 
prominence in many of the most remarkable events of 
the Scotish history, — Stirling is viewed by strangers 
as well as by the natives of Scotland, with feelings of the 
liveliest interest. Its population too, though limited in 
comparison of many other Scotch towns, has for ages 
been deemed sufficient to occupy the labours of several 
clergymen. By the return made to Dr. Webster in 1755, 
the number of souls in the parish was 3951. Most pro- 
bably too, the number fell little or nothing short of this 
at the time of Mr. Erskine's admission ; for nearly forty 
years since, it was affirmed by a clergyman who had 
the best opportunities of ascertaining the fact, that, " till 
of late, it has undergone very little change, either in 
size or population, for the last 600 years.* The charge 
of Stirling, we are informed by the same writer, was 
made collegiate in the year 1651. About a hundred 
years since, when the inhabitants resolved, as we have 
seen, to have a third minister, it was determined to give 
him the West Church, which, according to tradition, 
was built by James V. for the accommodation of some 
Franciscan friars ; but which, till that time had, subse- 
quently to the Reformation, been very rarely occupied 
as a place of worship. 

This then was the Church appropriated to Mr. Er- 
skine ; and here he continued to publish the glad tid- 
ings of salvation till May 1740, when his connexion 

* See Account of the Town and Parish of Stirling, by the late 
Rev. Dr. Sommerville, Statis. Acc. of Scotland, vol. viii. pp. 271- 
296. 



336 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



with the national establishment was finally dissolved.— 
The cause of vital religion was happily no novelty at 
Stirling. While he was called, no doubt, to address 
many inconsiderate hearers, who were ignorant of them- 
selves and the Saviour, he had also the joy of promot- 
ing the spiritual comfort and progress of a considerable 
number to whom the ministrations of faithful men who 
preceded him had been effectually blessed. Not to 
mention the celebrated James Guthrie and others, 
who flourished in earlier times, we find that, betwixt 
1694 and the period of Mr. Erskine's admission, the 
following ministers had finished their earthly career — 
Messrs. Robert Rule, John Forrester, James Brisbane, 
and Archibald M'Aulay. 

Among these clergymen, Mr. Brisbane, who died 
in the year 1724, seems to have been particularly dis- 
tinguished for piety, diligence, and soundness in the 
faith. He ministered first in the parish of Kilmalcolm, 
Renfrewshire, and was thence translated to Stirling. 
He acknowledged himself greatly indebted to his col- 
league, Mr. Hamilton, for leading him to more clear 
and evangelical views of the Christian system than he 
had originally held. Mr. Boston numbers him among 
the " noted preachers of the doctrine of free grace/'* 
and describes him as warmly attached to the Twelve 
Brethren who joined in the Representation respecting 
the condemnation of the Marrow. Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine calls him " an eminent labourer," and Mr. 
Ralph commends him as " a worthy and great divine." 
The utility of his labours has been acknowledged, 
among others, by Elizabeth Cairns, a pious inhabitant 



* Memoirs, Per. xi. p. 361. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 337 

of Stirling, in whose Memoirs it is stated, that she was 
much comforted and edified under Mr. Brisbane's mi- 
nistry. 

At the time of Mr. Erskine's translation to Stir- 
ling, the Rev. Charles Muir and Alexander Hamilton 
were the ministers of the East Church there ; and both 
of them were esteemed decidedly conscientious and 
evangelical. Both are mentioned by Mr. Boston as 
zealous friends to the pure Gospel. # 

Mr. Hamilton, in particular, was a distinguished 
character. From his youth he feared God above 
many ; and amid the infirmities of age he continued to 
discover an unabated ardour in his Master's cause. 
He laboured first for six years in the small parish of 
Ecclesmachan, county of Linlithgow ; then for twenty- 
six years in Airtk, on the south banks of the Forth ; 
and in February 1728, he was translated to Stirling, 
where he prosecuted his ministry with faithfulness and 
success till the 29th January 1738, when, after a short 
illness, he entered into his Master's joy in the 76th 
year of his age. Such were his zeal and courage in 
the days of youth, that one winter when attending the 
University of Edinburgh, influenced by a just regard 
to the memory of Mr. James Guthrie, he took down, 
with his own hand, at the hazard of his life, the head 
of that good man, from the top of the Netherbow gate 
of the city ; where, for a long series of years it had 
been exposed as a public spectacle. In the year 1714 
he published a Catechism on Gospel Doctrine and 
the Sacraments, in which the grace of the new cove- 

* Memoirs, Per. xi. p. 370. Mr. Muir died very soon after 
Mr. Erskine's translation. 

Q 



338 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



nant, the difference betwixt the law and the Gospel, 
and the unconditional exhibition of the Saviour to sin- 
ners, are correctly stated. From his known attach- 
ment to the doctrine of grace, he incurred the displea- 
sure of the dominant clergy to such a degree, that, 
along with other three excellent ministers, he was ar- 
raigned before the Committee of Assembly for purity 
of doctrine, which met in Edinburgh April 1719.* A 
few years before his death, too, he gave them fresh of- 
fence by faithfully protesting against the intrusion of 
Mr. James Mackie into the parish of St. Ninians. 
To these circumstances, as highly creditable to his 
character, Ebenezer Erskine alludes in the following 
terms : 

" My Reverend Father, Mr. Hamilton, has been 
[at different times] led forth to contend for his glori- 
ous Master. He gave him a banner some years ago 
w r hich he was helped to display for the doctrine of free 
grace, in opposition to the current of legalism which 
then prevailed ; and now again in his declining years, be- 
fore he take him off the field of battle, he has led him 
forth as a witness for the liberties wherewith he has 
made his people free, particularly that valuable branch 
of Christian liberty which hath been so much invaded 
of late, the freedom of Christian congregations to elect 
pastors and overseers of their souls." \ 

Mr. Ralph Erskine, also, in more than one of his 
sermons, makes honourable allusions to the memory of 
Mr. Hamilton; and, at the request of some of his 
friends, he composed a long Elegiac Poem, partly in 

* Boston's Memoirs, Per. xi. p. 361. 

-f Testimony and Contendings of the Rev. Mr. Alexander 
Hamilton against the violent Settlement of Mr. James Mackie. 
Preface by Ebenezer Erskine, dated Stirling, September 4, 1735. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



339 



English and partly in Latin, in which he celebrates 
his piety, orthodoxy, meekness, fortitude, and other 
virtues, and notices the principal events of his life.* 

To have men of this description for his colleagues 
was a great felicity to Mr. Erskine. Nor was he less 
happy in most of the brethren with whom he now cor- 
responded at sacramental solemnities, as the Rev. 
Messrs. Stevenson of Glendovan, Lindsay of Both- 
kennar, Bonar of Torphichen, Kidd of Queensferry, 
and Warden of Gargunnock.f 

Marked esteem and affection were shown to him at 
his entrance into Stirling, when he came to take part 
in the oversight of souls in that town. He was met, it 
is said, at the far-famed Bridge by his two colleagues, 
Messrs. Muir and Hamilton, by the ruling Elders, and 
by the flower of the Christian people, who all united in 
hailing his arrival, and giving him a cordial welcome. 

At the commencement of his labours in this new and 
interesting sphere, his mind appears to have been deep- 
ly impressed ; and, while aware of the importance and 
difficulty of the work assigned to him, past experience 
of the divine aid powerfully encouraged him to place 
an unsuspecting reliance on the promise of strength 
and sufficiency equal to his day. On the first Sabbath 
after his admission he allowed the congregation to con- 

* See this Elegy among the Miscellaneous Poems at the closs 
of Mr. R. Erskine's Works. 

•f- For some notices of these excellent Ministers, see Gospel 
Truth, pp. 132-3, 340, 343-4, 348. See also in pp. 345-6 an ac- 
count of another devout and evangelical brother, with tvhom Mr. 
Erskine corresponded before, and perhaps also after his transla- 
tion, viz. Mr. Alexander Waedrope, who was minister 
first at Muckhart, and afterwards at Whitburn. 



340 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tinue singing considerably longer than usual, before be 
rose to offer up the first prayer. Some of his elders, 
who had observed the circumstance, and apprehended 
that it was the consequence of indisposition, when 
they saw him next day, made kind inquiries respecting 
his health. He told them, however, with the frank- 
ness which usually characterized his intercourse with 
those in whose piety and friendship he had confidence, 
that his delaying so long to stand up was owing to no 
bodily complaint ; " but the days of grace he had en- 
joyed at Portmoak came afresh to his remembrance, 
with these words, ' I am the God of Bethel and his 
mind was so overpowered that he scarcely knew how 
to rise." 

Thus cheerfully depending on the faithful promises 
of that God whom he served, he exerted himself in his 
new situation with exemplary diligence. In performing 
the public and private duties of his office at Stirling, he 
maintained the same excellent spirit, which, as we have 
seen in a former chapter, he discovered at Portmoak ; 
and probably observed the same modes and forms — on- 
ly varying his manner a little, as the diversity of cir- 
cumstances seemed to require, or growing experience 
served to direct. Disdaining every suggestion of in- 
dolence, he applied himself with renewed vigour to the 
labours of reading and study, and of writing discourses. 
No doubt he availed himself occasionally of his former 
manuscripts ; and a few texts which he had found sin- 
gularly beneficial to others, or peculiarly sweet to his 
own soul, as Exod. xx. 2. and Job xix. 25. were, on 
proper occasions, repeatedly resumed. But the nu- 
merous productions of his pen, still extant, bear unde- 
niable testimony to his great and persevering industry. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



341 



Besides, at least, six volumes " on Catechetical Doc- 
trine," written at Portmoak betwixt 1717 and 1723 in- 
clusive, he has left, in all, forty-seven Note-books of 
evangelical, sacramental, and miscellaneous sermons ; 
fifteen of which books were composed subsequently to 
his translation to Stirling. Most of them consist of 
about 220 pages ; and all of them, with the exception 
of a few words in common-hand interspersed, are writ- 
ten in short-hand characters. Each may contain, on 
an average, about thirty-six sermons of an hour's length. 
He left also, several volumes of expository discourses, 
including a series of lectures on the epistle to the He- 
brews, studied and delivered immediately after his ad- 
mission to his second charge. By far the greater part 
of these various manuscripts have been in our hands ; 
and, were it requisite, we could specify the numerous 
texts and subjects to which he called the attention of 
his hearers. But the specimens which have been long 
in the possession of the Christian public may be deemed 
sufficient. 

His published sermons comprise, we observe, amongst 
others delivered at Stirling, four that were preached 
immediately before the administration of the Lord's 
Supper on the following topics — " Human nature pre- 
ferred to the angelical," — " The wise virgins going forth 
to meet the Bridegroom," — " Christ set up from ever- 
lasting," — " Ethiopia stretching out her hands to God." 

The assistance he received in his Master's work on 
particular occasions, as well as in the usual routine of 
service, often called forth the cordial acknowledgments 
of a grateful heart. Thus in a manuscript entitled 
u Book 42d of Miscellany Sermons, 8th book in Stir- 



342 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ling," begun March 23, 1738, he thus records his ex- 
perience of the divine goodness : 

" Saturday \ May 20, I preached before my Lords 
Dun and Strichen — Circuit, upon the following text ; 
and the Lord helped, as he has done hitherto : Rev. i. 
7. < Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall 
see him,' " &c. — At the close of a few jottings it is add- 
ed, " Nofa, I had not time to write, having come home 
on Friday forenoon from the Associate Presbytery at 
Abbotshall, 1738." 

Of the assiduity and faithfulness with which Mr. Er- 
skine, in connection with his much esteemed colleague 
Mr. Hamilton, discharged the private duties of his of- 
fice, we have an authentic memorial in a paper publish- 
ed by the Associate Presbytery in 1739.* Early in 
the year 1737, as appears from that document, " the 
two ministers of Stirling, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Er- 
skine, in order to prevent the profanation of the Table 
of the Lord, formed a resolution to examine, privately, 
all that should be admitted, and to appoint diets for that 
effect." They determined at the same time, with the 
concurrence of a large majority of the Session, to read 
from the pulpit an advertisement with respect to intend- 
ed communicants — giving notice that none should ap- 
ply for admission to that ordinance, who were ignorant 
of the first principles of religion, or hostile to the dis- 
tinguishing tenets of the Church of Scotland, or habi- 

* Remarks on the Libel executed against the ministers of the 
Assoc. Presb. by order from the General Assembly 1738. Re- 
exhibition, pp. 201, 202. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 343 

tually negligent of secret and family worship, or who 
absented themselves without a sufficient apology from 
public worship, or from diets of catechising, or that 
were ungodly and immoral in their practice. 

One of Mr. Erskine's Note-books contains a list of 
" Memoranda of things anent the Sacrament to be ce- 
lebrated in Stirling the 3d Sabbath of July, 1739 ;" — 
among which occurs the following memorandum, allud- 
ing to the private examination formerly conducted by 
Mr. Hamilton and himself : 

" Remember to intimate that, whereas it is impracti- 
cable for me now, when left alone, to venture upon a 
private examination of all that are to be admitted to the 
Lord's table, as was done the last time, when my wor- 
thy colleague, now in glory, was with me ; therefore, I 
can now adventure only upon the private examination 
of Young Communicants, or such as were not admitted 
the last time we had the ordinance dispensed in this 
place. And, therefore, such of this congregation as in- 
cline to partake of this ordinance, who were never ad- 
mitted before, may come to my house on Wednesday 
and Thursday, when I shall endeavour to attend on 
them from 4 to 8 at night." 

The high popularity which this faithful minister had 
previously acquired suffered no abatement, but, on the 
contrary, increased, after his translation to Stirling ; 
and, what was more gratifying to him, as well as infi- 
nitely more important in itself, his ministrations, by the 
powerful blessing of God, were rendered truly and ex- 
tensively useful. A course of sermons he preached in 
the year 1735, on Christ as the Foundation laid in Zion, 
proved the means of conversion and edification to 



344 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



many.* The memoirs of a private Christian, eminent 
for piety and good sense, supply one of the numerous 
examples of the happy effects arising from his labours. 
— " I went for ordinary to Stirling," says Alexander 
Archibald, " where the Gospel was preached with great 
purity and simplicity by Mr. Ebenezer Erskine ; which 
tended much to acquaint me with, and establish me in 
the faith once delivered to the saints.'*^ 

We have another instance of his usefulness, which 
must not be passed over in silence. A young man, 
about twenty years of age, had come from the High- 
lands to serve in the labours of the field in the vicinity 
of Alloa. His master was a cordial lover of the Gospel, 
and frequently took his highland servant with him to 
Stirling, to hear Mr. Erskine. The young man at last 
felt the salutary power of the truth ; and having applied 
about the year 1740 for the privileges of full communi- 
on, was, after examination, admitted to the Lord's table. 

In choosing rather to go to Stirling than to worship 
in the parish church of Alloa, he was influenced not 
merely by the interesting doctrine and manner of the 
preacher, but also by the spirit which the hearers dis- 
covered. When he sat in the gallery allotted to ser- 
vants in the church of Alloa, " before public worship 
began, nothing was heard but the news of the country, 
and the idle chit-chat of the past week ; but when he 
went to Stirling, or returned from it, the savour of 
Christ's knowledge was diffused all around. They took 

* Gospel-Truth, p. 58. 

+ See u The Experience of A. Archibald," which was first 
published at Edinburgh, and has undergone several subse- 

quent impressions. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 345 

sweet counsel as they went to the house of God in com- 
pany. This made him conclude that there was more 
of Christ among the one sort of people than among the 
other." 

After his return to the Highlands, he retained his at- 
tachment to the Gospel, and to the cause of the Seces- 
sion. Previously to the erection of a Seceding congre- 
gation at Comrie, he and his wife were accustomed, 
" almost every Sabbath in summer, to travel all the way 
from Lochearne to Kinkell, about eighteen English 
miles," to hear the late Mr. Muckersie, whose ministry 
was dear and profitable to him. From his manifest in- 
tegrity of mind, and primitive simplicity of manners, he 
obtained among some ministers of his acquaintance the 
name of NathanaeL He was much given to prayer, 
and, with peculiar earnestness, interceded for the pro- 
sperity and enlargement of the Church. Moved by 
Christian compassion for the inconsiderate and ignor- 
ant in that part of the country where he resided, he 
travelled many a dark night to read practical books to 
them, or to lend them for perusal. 

About the year 1780, his regard to the cause of 
Christ was put to a severe test, when his son, whom he 
dearly loved, and to whom he had given education for 
the ministry, was appointed to Nova Scotia by the late 
General Associate Synod. " Though he felt all the 
yearnings of an affectionate father over an only son, he 
cheerfully acquiesced ; and rejoiced that he had a son 
honoured to carry the Gospel to these dark places of 
the earth. Nothing gave him greater joy than the ac- 
counts he received from Pictou of the success of the 
Gospel." 

This good man died at Portmore in the parish of Com- 



346 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



rie, on the 8th January, 1801, aged 84 years and up- 
wards. His end was peace. With his dying breath he 
expressed his confidence in the mercy of our Lord Je- 
sus Christ unto eternal life. His name was James 
Macgregor.* The son, whom, like another Isaac, this 
pious father, emulating the faith of Abraham, cheerfully 
surrendered at the call of God, is the truly venerable 
James Macgregor, D.D. of Pictou, who has long ex- 
ercised his ministry with distinguished ability, faithful- 
ness, and zeal ; and whose labours have been signally 
blessed to many of the poor Scotish Highlanders, who 
were compelled by dire necessity to emigrate to that 
distant province. 

Who can calculate the amount to which a single in- 
stance of conversion by the preaching of the Gospel 
may ultimately grow ? It is only when the great day 
of judgment shall arrive, that it will be possible to per- 
ceive the whole beauty and extent of the valuable fruit 
which has resulted from the efforts of the faithful ser- 
vant of Jesus Christ, who has been honoured to sow 
" an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
mountain." 

We shall defer what remains to be told respecting 
the prosecution and success of Mr. Erskine's ministry 
at Stirling, till we have detailed the particulars of his 
conduct in that interesting public cause which attracted 
universal attention in Scotland, shortly after his transla- 
tion to that town. 

* For these particulars respecting this follower of Christ, we 
are indebted to the Christian Mag. vol. v. pp. 107-9. The sig- 
nature taken by the writer of the account is Gr. which, probably, 
means the late Rev. Samuel Grilnllan, Comrie. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



347 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SKETCH OF PARTICULARS REGARDING THE RISE OF 
THE SECESSION. 

Remote causes of this event — Mr. Erskine^s first indications of 
zeal for religious liberty — Opposes a settlement by patronage at 
Ballingry in 1717 — Unites with others in remonstrating against 
the Act of Assembly respecting vacant parishes, 1732 — Com- 
plained of for expressions in his sermon at Perth, before the Sy- 
nod of Perth and Stirling, and declared censurable — His protest 
and appeal to the General Assembly 1733 — Unfavourable sen- 
tence of that court — Protest by the Four Brethren — Proceedings 
of the Commission against them in August and November — 
Their constituting themselves into a Presbytery at Gairney -bridge 
in December — Conciliatory measures of the Assembly 1734 — 
The seceding ministers decline to accede — Their appearance, 
when summoned to reply to a Libel, before the Assembly 1739 — 
Their deposition by that court 1740 — Attestations to the char- 
acter of Mr. Erskine — His integrity, fortitude, and ability in 
maintaining the cause he had espoused — Aspersions cast upon 
his conduct. 

The Secession is regarded both by its friends and its 
enemies as a highly important event in the history of 
the Church of Scotland. However slight and acciden- 
tal the circumstances by which it was immediately oc- 
casioned may appear, it unquestionably arose from a 



348 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



general state of matters in the Church, naturally tend- 
ing towards such a crisis. Divine providence, whose 
operations are often apparently slow, but always sure 
and progressive, had been gradually paving the way for 
an open division, calculated, notwithstanding all its ac- 
companying evils, to prevent the utter extinction of re- 
ligious principle and freedom in the land, and to advance 
the interests of truth and piety. A torrent of corrup- 
tion, which threatened the overthrow of every thing sa- 
cred in doctrine and valuable in privilege, was proceed- 
ing to so great a height, that enlightened and con- 
scientious men were impressed with the necessity of 
bold and decisive steps. 

The prevalence of those erroneous tenets and oppres- 
sive measures, which gave rise to the Secession, may 
be traced back to the defects attending the settlement 
of ecclesiastical affairs at the era of the Revolution 1688. 
That era was truly glorious ; and in no quarter of the 
British empire were its blessings more necessary, or 
more sensibly experienced, than in Scotland. Religi- 
ous, as well as civil rights and liberties, were then re- 
stored to a nation, which, under the tyrannical sway of 
Charles II. and James VII., had been most cruelly de- 
graded and oppressed. Episcopacy was abolished ; the 
Presbyterian worship and government re-established ; 
pastors who had been ejected from their churches in 
1681 were replaced ; and the law of patronage, though 
not absolutely annulled, was so modified, and, in con- 
sequence, so gently administered, that it was scarcely 
felt as a grievance. 

But while the Scotish Presbyterians had much cause 
for gratitude and joy, they had at the same time seve- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSICINE. 



349 



ral sources of regret.* The omission of an Act for- 
mally asserting Christ's sole headship over the Church, 
and expressly condemning the royal supremacy which 
had been assumed under the two preceding reigns, was 
deeply lamented. Nor was it an inconsiderable evil, 
that, in compliance with the wishes of the Court, about 
three hundred of the Prelatical incumbents, some of 
whom had even been active agents in the work of per- 
secution, were, " upon easy terms," permitted to retain 
their stations in the parishes of Scotland, and to sit in 
the ecclesiastical courts. Attached, in many instances, to 
unscriptural doctrines, no less than to Episcopalian forms 
of worship and discipline, these men could not fail to ob- 
struct the efforts of those faithful ministers who attempted 
to promote the cause of evangelical truth and practical 
religion. Among those ministers themselves, there were 
comparatively few who displayed all that magnanimity 
and zeal which the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom 
required ; and the exercise of which, on that momentous 
occasion, might have proved incalculably advantageous 
to vital Christianity in their own days, and in succeed- 
ing ages. Owing to the pusillanimity of some clergy- 
men, and the waywardness of others, lamentable symp- 
toms of degeneracy in principle and practice were dis- 
cernible within a short period after the happy Revolu- 
tion. The worthy Halyburton accordingly, amid the 
triumphant expressions of Christian faith and hope, 

* See Testimony of the United Assoc. Syn. pp. 24-30, and 
Memoirs of the Public Life of Mr. James Hogg, and of the Ec- 
clesiastical proceedings of his time. See a sketch of the princi- 
ples of the Old Dissenters from the Revolution Church, and the 
treatment they met with, in Struthers' Hist, of Scot. vol. i. 
Book i. 



350 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



which he uttered on his death-bed in 1712, deplored in 

the strongest terms " the growing apostacy" of the 
times, and, in particular, that indifference to the pecu- 
liarities of the Gospel and to the power of godliness, 
which prevailed among a great proportion of the cler- 
gy. He exclaimed, for example, " Oh that the minis- 
try of Scotland may be kept from destroying the Church 
of Scotland. Oh that I could obtain it of them with 
tears of blood, to be concerned for the Church ! Shall 
we be drawn away from the precious Gospel, and from 
Christ?"* 

It is not our design to illustrate particularly the gra- 
dual progress of error and declension in those times, 
nor fully to point out the manner in which the state of 
religion was affected by the political events and eccle- 
siastical transactions that occurred. The revival of the 
law of patronage, the imposition of the oath of abjura- 
tion, the Marrow controversy, and the way in which 
several processes for error before the General Assembly 
were conducted and terminated, — exercised a power- 
ful influence, as appears in some measure from the de- 
tails in a preceding Chapter, on the purity, peace, and 
prosperity of the national church. The seeds of dis- 
union were widely sown ; both light and darkness rose to 
a degree that was once unknown ;f and a palpable line 

* Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton, p. 247. 
9th ed. 

•f- Mr. Boston, after noticing the " good effects" of the Marrow 
controversy, adds : " Meanwhile it is not to be doubted, but 
others have, on that occasion, been carried further to the side of 
legalism than they were before ; and that through the prevalence 
of their passions and prejudices. ... So that I believe the 
light and the darkness are both come to a pitch that they were 
before far from in this church." Memoirs, p. 380. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



351 



of demarcation was drawn betwixt two parties among 
the clergy, opposed to each other in sentiment, spirit, and 
conduct. The one of these parties consisted of men warm- 
ly attached to the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and in- 
clined to vindicate, with ardour, the liberties of the Chris- 
tian people. The other was composed of those who ma- 
nifested a cold indifference, or visible hostility, to various 
articles of faith, and stood prepared, either with a ruth- 
less hand entirely to abolish the rights of the people in 
the choice of their pastors, or tamely to acquiesce in 
measures by which they were infringed. 

The subject of these memoirs held a conspicuous 
place in the first of these two opposite classes. We 
have already seen his decided attachment to purity of 
doctrine in the appearances he made during the agi- 
tation of the contest respecting the Marrow, and the 
prosecution of Professor Simson. His zeal for the re- 
ligious rights of the people was equally distinguished. 

This excellent feature of his character was discover- 
ed many years before it proved the occasion of his ejec- 
tion from the national church. A person well acquaint- 
ed with the history of his ministry in the parish of 
Portmoak, describes his mode of appointing ruling El- 
ders among his parishioners in the following terms : 

" Animated by the love of civil and religious liberty, 
he approved and practised the Scriptural method of 
electing Elders, by the suffrages of church members. 
This he adhered to at an early period of his ministry in 
Portmoak."* 

In common with all true friends of the Church of 



Portmoak MS. 



$52 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Scotland, he bitterly regretted the restoration of pa- 
tronage by the Act of Queen Anne, 1712 — an act ori- 
ginating in bigotry and crooked policy, and not less 
contrary to the treaty of Union between Scotland and 
England 1707, than to the enactment 1690, soon after 
the glorious Revolution. As a member of the Presby- 
tery of Kirkaldy, he heartily concurred in the explicit 
declarations made by this court in favour of the spiritu- 
al rights infringed by that perfidious act ; and he show- 
ed greater decision and consistency than most other 
members, in following up these avowals by corres- 
ponding procedure. At a meeting of Presbytery, Dec. 
25, 1712, in order to prevent unfavourable interpreta- 
tions of what they had done, when a presentation by 
her Majesty was laid on their table, they unanimously 
agreed to declare " that Patronage has been a great 
grievance to this Church, and is so to this day." Their 
views and intentions respecting it are more fully ex- 
pressed in the following extract : 

"At Dysart, August 13, 1713. 
" The Presbytery of Kirkaldy, taking under serious 
consideration that, by the late act of Parliament restor- 
ing Patronages, occasion is given to a grievous en- 
croachment upon that comely Gospel order of ministe- 
rial calls, or elections ; and, lest any countenance we 
give to presentations in that case be construed a reced- 
ing from the avowed principles of this Church, handed 
down by our worthy ancestors ever since the Reforma- 
tion, we do then most cheerfully, and with one consent, 
declare that the relation of pastor and people is plain- 
ly founded upon the election, choice, or free consent of 
a parish thus calling. Next, that the whole extent of 
patronage power reacheth only the benefice, or legal 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



353 



stipend, without regard to that sacred office. Accord- 
ingly, presentations bear no other part in the settlement 
of a Gospel minister, than the private consent of the pa- 
tron, as heritor, or the like, together with his transfer- 
ring a right to the legal maintenance. And, conse- 
quential hereto, we do resolve, whatever presentations 
may offer, to go into no settlement, but where the peo- 
ple's freedom of electing their minister is maintained, 
and made legally, and sufficiently evident to us."* 

Notwithstanding this solemn declaration, when the 
parish of Ballingry became vacant by the death of Mr. 
Wardrope, the Presbytery proceeded to settle it by 
presentation, in opposition to the general voice of the 
people. But that settlement was strongly disapproved 
and opposed by Mr. Erskine. He and the Rev. Mr. 
Clow, of Leslie, having been appointed to moderate in 
the Call at Ballingry, the 26th Nov. 1717, he thought 
proper to give the people a word of exhortation regard- 
ing their duty on that occasion. Accordingly, on one 
of the boards of a Note-book written that year, we find 
what he styles " A little Speech at the Moderation of 
a Call at Ballingry." The tenor of this speech is to 
point out the importance of the business for which they 
were met ; to exhort them to be faithful to Christ, and 
to their own souls, in fixing their choice ; to watch 
against being influenced by undue regard to men ; and 
to keep in remembrance the apostolic injunction, " Stand 
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free." 
— Mr. Erskine and his assistant, on account of " the 
paucity of those concurring" in the Call subscribed that 



* Rec. of Kirk. Presb. 



354 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



day, refused to attest it, and referred the matter to the 
Presbytery. 

When the Presbytery met at Kirkaldy, the 28th 
Nov. the call was sustained ; but " Mr. Currie desired 
it might be marked, that he voted Not sustain, in re- 
gard there are so few hands at the Call, as the minutes 
bear/' The following extract from the Records relates 
to what took place at the next meeting : 

" Kirkaldy, Dec. 26, 1717. 
" This day, after reading the minute of the Presby- 
tery anent the affair of Ballingry, Mr. Erskine desired 
it might be marked, that in regard he was not present 
when the vote passed in the affair of Ballingry, sustain- 
ing Mr. Robert Balfour's call, that he this day dissents 
from the Presbytery's sentence in that matter ; 1. For 
the reason already suggested in Mr. Currie's dissent, 
2. Because he judges this deed of the Presbytery in- 
consistent with a registered resolution, or deed, of the 
Reverend Presbytery, Anno 1713, declaring that they 
will go into no settlement of any congregation, where 
the free election of the people is not maintained, and 
made legally evident : which is not in the present case, 
where the whole body of the congregation decline their 
concurrence, as is evident from the minutes of the meet- 
ing at that moderation. 3. Because he judges that this 
decision of the Presbytery doth also interfere with an 
Act of the Synod of Fife about settlements, since the 
Act of patronage. And lastly, because of the fatal ef- 
fects this settlement, in all probability, will produce, in 
renting and breaking that congregation." 

The people having protested against the decision of 
the Presbytery and appealed to the Synod, the call was 
set aside, and a new moderation appointed. Two calls 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 355 

were then given, one in favour of the Presentee, and 
another in favour of Mr. James Thomson, who was af- 
terwards settled at Burntisland. After hot disputes 
and considerable delays, the call to Mr. Balfour w r as 
ultimately sustained by a majority of votes, and his 
ordination took place the 25th March 1719. It ap- 
pears, however, from the records, that Messrs. Pitcairn, 
Erskine, Currie, Bonthorn, and Clow, took no part in 
the transactions of that day. 

At the close of one of the meetings held at Ballingry 
during the course of these proceedings, the clergymen 
present were invited to dinner by Sir John Malcolm, 
the patron of the parish ; but resenting the firm opposi- 
tion given by Mr. Erskine to his views, he thus ad- 
dressed him : " Mr. Erskine, you are none of us to- 
day.'' To this repulsive intimation he instantly re- 
plied with becoming spirit, " Sir John, you do me 
great honour. It gives me the truest pleasure that 
in this we are agreed ; for I scorn to be one of them 
who dare to oppress the Christian people, and to rob 
them of their just privileges."* 

These noble sentiments were deeply seated in his 
breast, and he possessed the courage to assert them on 
every proper occasion. With all other friends of reli- 
gion and liberty, he rejoiced at the Act of Parliament 
passed 1719, declaring that presentations should be of 
no effect, if the individuals presented do not accept, or 
declare their willingness to accept of the presentations 
given them. It was generally understood that this li- 
mitation was equivalent to an express repealing of the 



* Portmoak MS. 



356 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



law of patronage. For some time after the passing of 
the act no minister or preacher ventured to accept a 
presentation ; and vacant churches were settled by 
means of a call from the parish without annoyance 
from patrons. After the lapse of a few years, however, 
this scrupulosity was entirely laid aside. Young men 
were again encouraged to avow their acceptance of 
presentations ; violent settlements were often effected ; 
and the ruling clergy were accused of manifesting a 
decided resolution to wreath about the necks of the 
people that galling yoke from which the legislature had 
shown a disposition to relieve them. 

A notorious instance of this intolerance occurred in 
the proceedings of the Assembly 1731-2. It was an 
established regulation that if the patron of a vacant pa- 
rish suffered six months to elapse without exercising 
his right of presentation, the presbytery to which it 
belonged was empowered to take steps for its settle- 
ment. To prevent Presbyteries in such cases from 
yielding to the inclinations of the people, and by this 
means keeping alive the spirit of liberty, an overture 
was laid before the Assembly 1731, proposing that 
when the settlement of a vacant parish devolved on the 
Presbytery, the power of election should be vested in a 
conjunct meeting of Heritors and Elders, and that all 
heritors should have the right of voting, Roman Ca- 
tholics excepted. This overture was remitted to the 
subordinate judicatories, that their judgment respecting 
it might be given at the next meeting of Assembly ; 
and though a great majority of those Presbyteries, 
which gave any opinion on the subject, either expressed 
their unqualified disapprobation of the measure, or re- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



357 



quested that it might undergo essential alterations, the 
Assembly 1732 most unwarrantably adopted the over- 
ture. 

The impolicy of this precipitate and obnoxious mea- 
sure was aggravated by the arrogant and contemptu- 
ous manner in which its opponents were treated. The 
overture had created a general ferment in the country. 
Many of its most respectable inhabitants, both clergy 
and laity, attempted, by their active and zealous exer- 
tions, to stem the tide of defection, and to induce the 
Assembly to retrace its steps. A representation of 
grievances, consisting of twelve heads, with a petition 
for redress, signed by forty- two ministers and several 
elders, was presented to this General Assembly ; * but 
the court refused even to hear the paper ; while a se- 
parate complaint and petition to the same effect, sub- 
scribed by upwards of fifteen hundred people, met 
with a similar or still more indignant reception. 

Ebenezer Erskine was not only one of the subscrib- 
ers of the Representation of grievances, but being a 
member of Assembly that year, one of fifteen who 
protested against its rejection. Concurring with those 
members who dissented from the act adopting the above 
overture relative to the settlement of vacant parishes, 
he boldly urged the marking of their dissent in the re- 
cords of the court. We have had the satisfaction to 
find, in one of his Note-books, in his own short-hand 
characters, a copy of a speech which he delivered at 
this interesting juncture. It is as follows : 

* This Representation, with the names of the subscribers, may 
be seen in Struthers' Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 599-610. 



358 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" An extempore Speech 1 had in open Assembly when 
the Overture anent the planting of churches was 
passed into an act by the Assembly, May 16, 1732. 
" Moderator, 

" I find, by the reading of the 
minutes, that the Dissent that was entered yesterday 
by some members of the Assembly is not marked ; 
and I crave that it may be marked, it being a privi- 
lege common in every free country. Moderator, the 
reason why I insist that it may be marked is, that I con- 
sider this act of Assembly to be without warrant from 
the word of God, and inconsistent with the acts and 
constitution of this church since our Reformation, par- 
ticularly in our Books of Discipline. As I said before 
in the Assembly, viz. in the case of Kinross, so, Mo- 
derator, I now say it again : I know of no ecclesiastical 
authority under heaven, but what is derived from Christ, 
the exalted King of Zion. It is in his name and au- 
thority that we are met and constituted in a national 
Assembly. He is the alone Foundation that God hath 
laid in Zion. His righteousness is the foundation of 
our justification and acceptance before God; and his 
authority as a King, is the alone foundation of all church 
government and discipline — laws and acts that' are to 
be imposed upon his church. And in regard I do not 
see upon what part of the word this act is founded, I 
therefore conclude, that it wants the authority of Christ, 
and that the Assembly, in this particular, has gone off 
from the true foundation of government. 

" We are charged with the custody and feeding of his 
lambs, his sheep, his little ones. It is not the world's great 
ones, or rich ones, that we are entrusted with. No, Mo- 
derator ; and yet by this act, the privilege of his little 



THE REV. EBENEZEK ERSKINE. 



359 



ones is conferred upon heritors, and the great ones of the 
world. I am so far from thinking this act conferring 
the power upon heritors beyond other men, to come 
and choose ministers of the Gospel, to be founded on 
the word, that I consider it diametrically contrary to 
it. What difference does a piece of land make between 
man and man in the affairs of Christ's kingdom, which 
is not of this world ? Are we not commanded in the 
word to do nothing by partiality ? whereas here is the 
most manifest partiality in the world. We must have 
a . the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ," or the privileges 
of his church, " without respect of persons ;" whereas 
by this act we show respect to the man with the gold 
ring and the gay clothing, beyond the man with the 
vile raiment and poor attire. I conceive, Moderator, 
that our public managements and acts should run in 
the same channel with God's way, not diverging. We 
are told that " God hath chosen the poor of this world, 
rich in faith." It is not said, he hath chosen the heri- 
tors of this world, as we have done ; but he hath "chosen 
the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the 
kingdom." And if they be " heirs of the kingdom," I 
wish to know by what warrant they are stript of the 
privileges of the kingdom. 

" Moderator, I consider that by this act, the Assem- 
bly have sunk one of the principal branches of our Re- 
formation, inserted in our Books of Discipline ; I mean 
the right of the Church and members thereof to choose 
their own pastors — a privilege with the custody of which 
we are entrusted. Our worthy forefathers handed 
down this among other branches of the Reformation, at 
the expense of their blood and treasure. And that I 
may not be accessory to the betraying of a trust, which 



350 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



we are obliged to hand down in safety to our posterity, 
and the generation following, / insist that my dissent 
may be marked in the Records of this Assembly." 

The omission complained of at the beginning of this 
speech, however unjust and unconstitutional in itself, 
was in full accordance with the mode of proceeding 
which had been recently adopted. The prevailing par- 
ty, galled by the faithful testimonies which many mini- 
sters were accustomed to bear against their conduct, 
had, in 1730, caused an act to be hastily passed by the 
Assembly, without previously consulting the Presby- 
teries, nay, within a few minutes after it was first pro- 
posed, prohibiting in future the recording of the reasons 
of Dissent against the determinations of church judica- 
tories. The dissents of the preceding da} 7 , therefore, 
and this new remonstrance by Mr. Erskine, were equal- 
ly disregarded. 

It was his determination, nevertheless, at all hazards, 
to support the cause of truth, and the rights of con- 
science, by every lawful method it was in his power to 
employ. Precluded from recording his disapprobation 
of prevailing evils in the minutes of the Courts, he 
deemed it his necessary duty to testify against them in 
his public ministrations ; and an indiscreet attempt to 
restrain all such instances of ministerial faithfulness, by 
making an example of this noted individual, was the 
circumstance which immediately gave birth to the Se- 
cession. 

Although the particulars of this memorable event 
have been detailed at large in various publications,* 

* The publications referred to, are chiefly as follows : — The 
True State of the Process against Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, The 



THE REV, EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



361 



some account of it is no doubt indispensable in a life 
of Mr. Erskine. Let the following statements suffice. 

Sincerely grieved at the measures adopted by the 
General Assembly in May 1732, he embraced an early 
opportunity of exonerating his conscience in the pulpit. 
Within a few days after the rising of the Court, he ex- 
posed the tendency of their arbitrary acts in a sermon 
preached at Stirling, on the evening of Sabbath, June 
4th, from Isaiah ix. 6. " And the government shall be 
upon his shoulders."* This remonstrance, however, 
did not appear to him sufficient. Having been ap- 
pointed Moderator of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, 
of which he had lately become a member, it fell to his 
share to open their meeting, at Perth, on the 10th of 
October following ; and in his sermon, on that occasion, 
having chosen for his text Psalm cxviii. 24. he expressed 
himself with great freedom against the growing defec- 
tions in doctrine and government ; and, in particular, 
against the rigorous execution of the law of patronage., 
and the act of the preceding assembly respecting the 
settlement of vacant churches. 

These faithful remonstrances could not be endured. 

Representations of Messrs. E. Erskine, &c. to the Commission 
of the General Assembly, Gibb's Display of the Secession Testi- 
mony, vol. i. The Re-exhibition of the Testimony, Testimony 
of the United Associate Synod, Brown's History of the Seces- 
sion, Patison's Preface to the first edition of M C E wen's Essays, 
Jaffray's Essay on the Reasons of Secession from the National 
Church of Scotland, Encyclopaedia Britan. Art. Seceder, Struth- 
ers' Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. Book vii. vol. ii. Book viii., and 
Ferrier's Memoirs of the Rev. William Wilson, A. M. 

* This Sermon, as well as the one preached before the Synod 
of Perth and Stirling, is published in his Works, Vol. I. 

R 



362 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



They were exceedingly offensive to a number of his reve- 
rend hearers. The Court was scarcely constituted, when 
they proceeded to complain aloud of the Moderator's dis- 
course, and to urge the appointment of a committee to 
converse with him, and to report. The proposal was made 
by Mr. Adam Ferguson of Logierait,* and immediately 
supported by Mr. James Mercer of Aberdalgie, Mr. 
James Mackie, then at Forteviot, afterwards at St. Ni- 
nians, and by Mr. Robert C , of Glendoig, Advo- 
cate, Elder, " a man that follows the fashion of the 
present time."f Three days were spent in keen de- 
bate ; and at last, when several of Mr. Erskine's friends, 
overcome with fatigue, had withdrawn, ± the Synod, by 
a majority of not more than six voices, decided that he 
was censurable for some indecorous expressions in his 
sermon, " tending to disquiet the peace of the Church, 
and impugning several acts of Assembly and proceed- 
ings of church judicatories." 

Against this deed Mr. Alexander Moncreiff of Aber- 
nethy immediately entered a dissent and protest, which 
was adhered to by twelve ministers, including Mr. Meik 
the Moderator, and Mr. William Wilson, of Perth ; 
with two ruling elders. Mr. James Fisher of Kin- 
claven, whom the Synod pronounced incompetent to 
vote, because he was Mr. Erskine's son-in-law, protested 
also against the sentence, and appealed to the next Ge- 
neral Assembly. Mr. Erskine himself, too, protested 

* He is sometimes called Minister of Killin. Possibly he was 
translated from the one place to the other, 

rf* See Memoirs of the Rev. W. Wilson, p. 196. Messrs. 
Mercer and Mackie are numbered among the " warm Managers 
against Mr. Erskine," True State, &c. p. 70. 

J The True State of the Process, p. 80. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



363 



and appealed, promising to give the reasons of his ap- 
peal in due time ; and, after protesting that meanwhile 
all further procedure against him be stopped, he re- 
tired. Yet the Synod proceeded in the cause, and, 
after reasoning, agreed to rebuke Mr. Erskine at their 
bar, and " admonish him to behave orderly for the fu- 
ture/' They at the same time appointed " the Pres- 
bytery of Stirling to inquire anent his after behaviour 
at their privy censures, and report to the next Synod."* 
At the next meeting of Synod, which took place at 
Stirling, 10th April 1733, the accused minister could 
not be persuaded to express regret for his public re- 
monstrance against the unwarrantable acts of the As- 
sembly ; nor had the zeal of his accusers abated. A 
Representation and Petition, subscribed by fifteen El- 
ders of the Kirk Session of Stirling, was laid before the 
Court, humbly beseeching them to reverse the sentence 
passed against their Minister. They complain that 
their beloved pastor was found censurable for certain 
expressions, while the sentence does not condescend on 
the expressions that gave offence ; and they submit to 
the judgment of the Synod, whether " such an indis- 
tinct and general sentence is agreeable to the wisdom, 
or for the honour and credit, of such a Court as the 
Provincial Synod of Perth and Stirling." They re- 
quest the attention of the Synod also to the dangerous 
consequences likely to result from the execution of the 
sentence. " Though the condemnatory sentence passed 
against our Minister," say they, " cannot lessen his 
character among us, nor diminish from the just esteem 
that we and many others through the land have for 
him ; yet what wide breaches such proceedings may 



* The True State of the Process, p. 28. 



364 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



occasion, we leave it to the more deliberate judgment 
of this Reverend Court." This seasonable Petition, 
however, was not transmitted by the Committee of 
Bills ; and the Synod, after reasoning, refused to hear 
it. An attempt made by the Presbytery of Stirling to 
accommodate matters by a conference with a Commit- 
tee of Synod, proved equally unavailing. " Mr. Er- 
skine being called and compearing, and the Synod going 
to execute their sentence in the terms of their appoint- 
ment, he told that he adhered to his appeal." Having 
with difficulty obtained permission to speak, he read 
the following paper : 

" According to the utterance given by the Lord to 
me at Perth, I delivered his mind, particularly with re- 
lation to some prevailing evils of the day, which to me 
are matter of confession, and therefore I dare not re- 
tract the least part of that testimony. I am heartily 
sorry that ever the Reverend Synod should have com- 
menced a process against me, for what I am persuaded 
was nothing else but truth ; especially when they have 
never yet made it appear that I have in the least re- 
ceded from the word of God, and our approven stand- 
ards of doctrine, worship, discipline, or government. 
Every man hath his own proper gift of utterance ; and, 
according to the gift bestowed on me, so I expressed 
myself at Perth ; and, if I had given offence by any 
expressions uttered by me at that time, I should very 
willingly retract, and beg pardon. But I hope my Re- 
verend Brethren will excuse me to say, that I am not 
yet convinced of any just ground given for a Rebuke 
and Admonition."* 



* The True State, &c. pp 59, 60. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 365 

The next meeting of the General Assembly was an* 
ticipated with uncommon anxiety. Having met on the 
3d May, the Rev. John Gowdie, Moderator, the Court, 
apparently with a view to strike terror into Mr. Erskine 
and his supporters, began with the discussion of a cause 
respecting a notorious intrusion at Kinross, and pro- 
nounced a rigorous sentence against the Presbytery of 
Dunfermline for their refusal to receive and enrol Mr. 
Robert Stark as a Member of Presbytery. Mr. Er- 
skine, however, sustained by conscious rectitude, and 
trusting in aid from above, maintained the cause in 
which he had embarked with unwavering decision and 
fearless intrepidity. The Reasons of his Appeal, which 
were produced and read, are thus eulogized in a late 
publication : " Whether we consider their pointed bear- 
ing on the subject, the piety that runs through them, 
or the noble spirit of independent feeling which they 
breathe, they are alike admirable."* The Assembly, 
after hearing parties, by a majority of votes, " found 
the expressions vented by Mr. Erskine, and contained 
in the minutes of the Synod's proceedings, with the 
answers thereto made by him, to be offensive, and to 
tend to disturb the peace and good order of the Church ; 
and therefore approve of the proceedings of the Synod, 
and appoint him to be rebuked and admonished at their 
own bar, in order to terminate the process." But Mr. 
Erskine, while he received the rebuke and admonition, 
judged it his necessary duty to lodge the following 
protest :f 

" Although I have a very great and dutiful regard 
to the Judicatories of this Church, to whom I own my 



* Strath. Hist.' of Scotland, f The True State, &c. p. 67. 



366 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



subjection in the Lord ; yet in respect the Assembly 
have found me censurable, and have tendered a Rebuke 
and Admonition to me, for things I conceive agreeable 
unto and founded upon the word of God and our ap- 
proven standards ; I find myself obliged to protest 
against the foresaid censure, as importing that I have, 
in my doctrine at the opening of the Synod of Perth, 
October last, departed from the word of God and the 
foresaid standards ; and that I shall be at liberty to 
preach the same truths of God, and to testify against 
the same or like defections of this Church upon all 
proper occasions. And I do hereby adhere unto the 
testimonies I have formerly emitted against the Act of 
Assembly 1732, whether in the protest entered against 
it in open Assembly, or yet in my Synodical Sermon ; 
craving this my protest and declaration to be inserted 
in the Records of Assembly, and that I be allowed ex- 
tracts thereof. 

Ebenezer Erskixe." 

May 14, 1733. 

The Rev. Messrs. Wilson, MoncriefF, and Fisher con- 
curred with Mr. Erskine in this measure, and subjoined 
a written adherence. No one of the four, however, 
appears, at this stage of the business, to have enter- 
tained any thought of a formal separation from the 
Church of Scotland ; and the ruling clergy would have 
consulted their own credit by tolerating or overlooking 
the protest. But they were not disposed to exercise 
such forbearance ; and here, as in many other instances, 
the wisdom of Providence is admirably displayed in 
overruling trivial and fortuitous incidents for the ac- 
complishment of important events. The protest hap- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



867 



pened to drop from the table, and had almost escaped 
notice, while the Court was proceeding to a different 
business. A member, however, having picked up the 
paper and perceived its tenor, immediately addressed 
the Moderator, and, with a stentorian voice, solicited 
the attention of the house to an insufferable insult done 
to its authority. The protest being read, strong feel- 
ings of indignation were excited ; and orders given, 
that the four brethren, who had quietly retired, should 
be cited to appear early on the following day. When 
they did accordingly appear, a committee was appointed 
for the purpose of persuading them to withdraw their 
protest ; and that committee having merely reported 
that their efforts had j^roved ineffectual, without stating 
the reasons which the brethren assigned for their re- 
fusal, the Assembly, by a great majority, passed sen- 
tence to the following effect : 

That the four brethren should appear before the 
Commission, in August next, to express sorrow for 
their conduct, and retract their protest; that in the 
event of their refusal to submit, the Commission is ap- 
pointed to suspend them from the exercise of their mi- 
nistry ; that if they shall then act contrary to the sen- 
tence of suspension, the Commission, at their meeting 
in November, or any subsequent meeting, must proceed 
to a higher censure. 

On the 8th of August, when the Commission met, 
two sensible and manly representations were laid be- 
fore them ; the one by Messrs. Erskine and Fisher, 
and the other by Messrs. Wilson and MoncriefF.* The 

* These Representations were published at the time. The 
substance of them may be seen in the Narrative of the Secession , 
included in the Re-exhibition, pp. 296-298. 



368 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



former, after a tedious discussion of the point, was al- 
lowed to be read ; the same indulgence was positively 
denied to the latter. In these papers the brethren sup- 
ported their protestation by a series of powerful argu- 
ments, while they candidly stated, that were they to 
profess sorrow for the struggle they had made in oppo- 
sition to measures by which the spiritual liberties of the 
Church of Christ were violated, they would be guilty 
of gross dissimulation. Representations and petitions, 
soliciting a delay of the execution of the Assembly's 
sentence against them, were presented by the Kirk- 
session of Stirling, and by the Magistrates and Town- 
council of that burgh, and also by the Presbyteries of 
Stirling, Dunblane, and Ellon. But all these represen- 
tations were without effect. The Commission, after a 
committee of their number had made an unsuccessful 
attempt to persuade the brethren to acquiesce in the 
decision of the Assembly, immediately pronounced 
sentence against them, and " did suspend the Four pro- 
testing Brethren from the exercise of the ministerial 
function, and all the parts thereof." 

The sentence being intimated, they protested for 
themselves, and as many as adhered to them, that this 
sentence is null and void, and that it shall be lawful for 
them to exercise their ministry, as they had previously 
done ; and that if, in consequence of the sentence, any 
minister or probationer shall exercise any part of their 
pastoral work, the same shall be held as a violent intru- 
sion on their labours. Protests were at the same time 
taken by the ruling elders of the four congregations 
immediately concerned, testifying their continued ad- 
herence to their ministers, notwithstanding the sentence 
of suspension inflicted upon them. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



369 



Mr. Erskine and his associates accordingly persisted 
in the regular exercise of their office ; yet, without he- 
sitation they obeyed the summons they received to at- 
tend another meeting of the Commission in November. 
Renewed endeavours were then used to induce them 
to retract their protestation ; but all such efforts proved 
utterly abortive. A considerable number of Synods 
and Presbyteries sent up communications in different 
forms, earnestly recommending forbearance, lenity, and 
tenderness, towards the suspended ministers. Many 
members of the Commission itself spoke warmly for de- 
lay. But, when the question was put, Proceed imme- 
diately to inflict a higher censure, or delay the same 
till March, it carried, by the casting vote of Mr. John 
Goldie the Moderator, to proceed immediately to in- 
flict a higher censure. At this crisis, the Commission 
proposed certain terms of accommodation, which, 
though regarded by not a few of its members as an in- 
stance of great condescension, the Brethren, after ma- 
ture deliberation, could not conscientiously accept. 
The Commission, therefore, on the 16th of November, 
passed sentence on them, loosing their relation to their 
respective charges ; declaring their churches vacant ; 
and prohibiting all ministers of the Church of Scotland 
to employ them in any ministerial function. 

No sooner was the decision announced than a Pro- 
testation was given in by the venerable Mr. Gabriel 
Wilson, of Maxton, and adhered to by other six mini- 
sters,* declaring that it shall be lawful for them to com- 

* These were Messrs. Ralph Erskine and James Wardlaw, 
Dunfermline ; Thomas Mair, Orwell ; John Maclaren, Edin- ' 
burgh ; John Currie, Kingiassie ; Thomas Nairn, AbbotshalL 



370 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



plain of this sentence to any subsequent assembly ; to 
testify in a becoming manner, on all occasions, against 
the defections of the Church ; and to hold ministerial 
communion with their " dear Brethren," as if no such 
sentence had been passed against them. 

The four Brethren themselves too, when the sentence 
was intimated to them, read a Protestation, declaring 
that, notwithstanding this sentence, their pastoral rela- 
tion to their congregations shall be held firm and valid, 
and that they still hold communion with all who ad- 
here to the principles of the true Church of Scotland ; 
stating that, from the course of defection carried on by 
the prevailing party in the Established Church, they 
are obliged to make a secession from that party, till 
they see their sins and mistakes, and amend them ; and 
protesting that it shall be lawful and warrantable for 
them to exercise the keys of doctrine, discipline, and 
government, according to the word of God, and the 
principles and constitution of the Church of Scotland. 

In the new and interesting circumstances in which 
they found themselves placed, it was their earnest wish 
to unite prudence with firmness, and to be entirely un- 
der the Divine guidance. A few weeks after their ex- 
pulsion from the communion of the Established Church, 
they met, according to previous concert, at the Bridge 
of Gairney, a small village about three miles south from 
Kinross. The first day of their meeting, being the 5th 
of December, was wholly occupied in prayer, humilia- 
tion, and pious conference. The day following, they 
renewed the same exercises, and then proceeded to a 
careful consideration of the question, Whether it was 
expedient for them, in their present situation, to assume 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



371 



a judicative capacity; and "after much and serious 
reasoning on both sides of the question," as it is related 
by one of their number, " the four Brethren did all, 
with one voice, give it as their judgment, that they 
should presently constitute into a Presbytery ; and the 
Rev. Ebenezer Erskine was, by their unanimous con- 
sent, desired to be their mouth to the Lord in this so- 
lemn action; and he was enabled, with much enlargement 
of soul, to consecrate and dedicate them to the Lord, and 
to the service of his Church, particularly of his broken 
and oppressed heritage in the present situation into 
which, by the holy and wise providence of God, they 
were brought ; and, after prayer, he was chosen Mode- 
rator of their Presbytery.'' " I hope," adds the venerable 
Writer, 44 they felt and experienced something of the 
Lord's gracious countenance and special presence. Two 
Reverend Brethren, Messrs. Ralph Erskine and Thomas 
Mair, were witnesses to all that passed the two days 
mentioned ; they were not then in conjunction with 
the four ministers in secession from the judicatories, 
but the Lord afterwards cleared their way to join 
them."* 

While, for various weighty reasons, they thus as- 
sumed a Presbyterial capacity, they gave another evi- 
dence of that grave, deliberate, and cautious spirit, 
which corresponded with their years and experience, 
and with the solemn impressions they cherished, of the 
responsibility attached to their conduct, in the extraor- 
dinary circumstances in which they stood. They una- 
nimously resolved to defer proceeding to acts of juris- 
diction, till they should see whether the courts of the 

* Wilson's Continuation of the Defence of Reformation Prin- 
ciples, &e. pp. 152, 153. 



372 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



national Church would return to their duty. Their 
meetings were held chiefly for asking counsel of God, 
and for mutual advice and encouragement. They 
deemed it necessary, however, in the month of May 
following, to emit a Testimony to the principles of the 
Church of Scotland, in which they illustrate the rea- 
sons of their Protestation before the Commission in 
November, and the grounds of their secession from the 
established judicatories. This is what is termed the 
First or the Extrajudicial Testimony. 

The boldness, and decision, blended with caution, 
which thus marked the procedure of the four ejected 
Brethren, at once surprised their friends, and confound- 
ed their enemies. A general impression was felt, that 
they had been treated with unwarrantable severity, and 
that the interests of the church required the prevailing 
party to make some concessions, with a view to their 
return. The Assembly that met in May 1734, disco- 
vered a conciliatory spirit. Besides rescinding those 
recent deeds which had been the immediate subject of 
complaint,* they passed an act, authorising the Synod of 
Perth and Stirling, without pronouncing any judgment 
on the legality or formality of the former proceedings 
of the church judicatories in relation to this affair, to 
restore the four Brethren to communion, and to their 
respective charges. That Synod accordingly, at their 
meeting on the 2d July, " did take off the sentence pro- 
nounced by the Commission of the General Assembly 
1733, against the foresaid four Brethren," and reinstate 

* We refer to the act 1730 forbidding church courts to record 
dissents and protests, and the act 1732 respecting the settlement 
of vacant parishes ; both of which the Assembly now declared to 
be no longer binding rules in this church. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 873 



them in their office, as ministers of their several pa- 
rishes. The Brethren were fully expected to express 
high satisfaction with those appearances of reformation 
which had been exhibited, and to avail themselves im- 
mediately of the opportunity given them to return to 
the church. Yet, after solemn and repeated delibera- 
tion, they concurred in the opinion, that whatever cause 
of joy was supplied by some of the proceedings of the 
Assembly 1734, it was their duty to remain in a state 
of secession, till they should have the satisfaction to see 
more unequivocal and decided evidence, that the course 
of defection against which they had protested was real- 
ly abandoned. To show to all concerned the grounds 
of this conviction, they published, some time before the 
meeting of Assembly 1735, a small pamphlet, containing 
the " Reasons why they have not acceded to the judica- 
tories of the Established Church." Their apprehen- 
sion that the temperate measures adopted by the As- 
sembly 1734, would have no lasting effect, and were 
permitted, by the ruling party, on the principles of a 
worldly and calculating policy, appeared to the four 
Brethren to be mournfully justified by various proceed- 
ings of the two Assemblies immediately following. Af- 
ter the close of the Assemby 1736, by which some vio- 
lent intrusions were confirmed, and a Professor convict- 
ed of dangerous errors, was dismissed with a gentle 
caution, they considered it " full time to proceed to the 
exercise of the powers with which they were entrusted 
by the Head of the church, for the vindication of his 
truths and ordinances, and for the relief of the Christian 
people, by supplying them with sermon."* At their 



* Test, of the Unit. Assoc. Syn. p. 52. 



374 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



meeting at Perth on the 3d December that year, they 
enacted their Second, or Judicial Testimony, which was 
soon after published. 

This enactment, which was their first judicial deed, 
and the corresponding measures to which they now re- 
sorted, were succeeded by a complete separation be- 
twixt them and the Established Church. On the 17th 
May 1738, in consequence of representations from the 
Synod of Perth and Stirling, and the Synod of Fife, 
complaining of disorderly practices pursued by the Se- 
ceding Ministers, the Assembly appointed its Commis- 
sion, if they should see cause, to prepare and execute 
a libel against them. The Commission, accordingly, 
at their meeting in November, did appoint that a libel 
be executed against all the eight ministers now com- 
posing the Associate Presbytery ; Messrs. Ealph Ers- 
kine of Dunfermline, Thomas Mair of Orwell, Thomas 
Nairn of Abbotshall, and James Thomson of Burnt- 
island having acceded to that Presbytery. The libel 
consisted of ten articles, representing the various in- 
stances of conduct in which they followed out their se- 
cession as high crimes, and cited them to appear before 
the General Assembly at its meeting in May 1739, to 
answer for their misdeeds. The Assembly of that year, 
after deliberating two days on the subject, resolved to 
proceed on the libel transmitted from the Commission 
of the preceding Assembly. Against this decision the 
pious Mr. Willison of Dundee, with other four mini- 
sters, and two elders, entered their dissent. The li- 
belled ministers, meanwhile, had taken their ground. 
They met in Edinburgh, while the Assembly were sit- 
ting, and passed an act, entitled the Declinature, in 
which, for the reasons they specify, they declined all 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 37^ 

authority, power, and jurisdiction which the Judica- 
tories of the National Church might claim over the 
Associate Presbytery, or any of its members, or any 
who chose to place themselves under its inspection. 
On the 18th of the month, being called to make their 
appearance before the Court, they did appear. The 
Moderator began by assuring them that, " notwith- 
standing all that had passed, the Assembly was willing 
to drop the libel, and receive them with open arms, if 
they would return into the bosom of the Church." The 
Rev. Mr. Mair, the Moderator of the Presbytery, re- 
plied, that they had come as a constituted Presbytery, 
and that he, however insufficient and unworthy, was ap- 
pointed, as their mouth, to deliver their mind, by read- 
ing an act agreed on by the Presbytery. In conse- 
quence of this reply, the Assembly caused the libel to 
be read, after which Mr. Mair read the Declinature, 
mentioned above, from beginning to end, and then de- 
livered it to the Moderator of the Assembly. The 
Presbytery then withdrew to their place of meeting ; 
" and, having seriously considered the direction and 
assistance which they hope the Lord has been pleased 
to give them in their essay at this time of testifying in 
the above manner, the meeting of Presbytery was con- 
cluded with thanksgiving and prayer."* The Assem- 
bly now declared the eight seceding brethren worthy 
of deposition ; but, from motives of expediency, de- 
ferred the passing of the sentence, and satisfied them- 
selves with earnestly recommending it to the next As- 
sembly to proceed against them, unless " they returned 
to their duty and submission." This recommendation 



• Re-exhibition, p. 222. 



376 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



was not neglected. On the 12th of May 1740, the 
Assembly, on the motion of the Rev. James Banatyne, 
the Moderator of the last Assembly, proceeded to con- 
sider the libel ; and, finding it relevant and proven in 
its most material articles, they did " actually depose 
them from the office of the holy ministry, prohibiting 
and discharging them, and every one of them, to exer- 
cise the same, or any part thereof, within this Church, 
in all time coming." Their parishes were declared 
vacant ; and the Moderator was appointed to write 
letters to the civil authorities, in the several places of 
their residence, that they might be dispossessed of their 
churches. This decisive sentence was passed by a great 
majority ; but fifteen ministers and four elders dissented 
from it. 

The deposed brethren were neither overawed nor 
disconcerted. Unmoved by a sentence which they 
deemed utterly unjust and invalid, and regarding them- 
selves as persecuted for righteousness' sake, they con- 
tinued to exercise their office, while life and health 
were granted. Their efforts and sufferings in the cause 
of truth and religious liberty highly endeared them to 
a great proportion of the Christian public ; and the 
Lord of the harvest was pleased to smile on their la- 
bours, and to crown them with extensive success. 

The succinct and dispassionate narrative now given 
of facts and circumstances attending the commence- 
ment of the Secession, will meet the approbation, we 
trust, of well-informed and impartial judges. We do 
not intend to examine generally the merits of the Se- 
ceders, or fully to advocate their cause. This work, 
however, would be materially defective, were it to con- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 377 



tain no observations relative to the developement of 
Mr. Erskine's character, as it is affected by his attitude 
and behaviour as the standard-bearer in the Secession. 

Very probably, the same diversity of sentiment on 
this subject, which appeared in his own age, still in 
some degree exists. But we are inclined to think, that 
among Christians of nearly all denominations, his posthu- 
mous fame has been progressively increasing, and that 
his name will descend to a distant posterity as occupying 
a distinguished place among the advocates of Christian 
truth and liberty. That he equals or approaches a Lu- 
ther, a Calvin, or a Knox, we do not allege. Yet if 
66 he attained not to the first three," without question he 
holds an honourable place among " the thirty." 

That no unadvised expression ever fell from his lips 
— that the honest indignation he felt at measures which 
he strongly disapproved of, never for a moment ex- 
ceeded the limits that strict propriety prescribes — or 
that he and his valuable coadjutors conducted every step 
of their procedure, in the great cause they had espoused, 
in the very best manner, and did every thing in the 
fittest season, it were rash to affirm. Yet the general 
and almost unalloyed excellence of their management, 
in the first stage of their progress, can scarcely admit 
of a doubt. 

The high estimation in which Ebenezer Erskine 
was held as a Christian, a minister, and a member of 
society, among persons of every class who had the best 
opportunities of knowing him when he commenced his 
career as a leader in the Secession, will clearly appear 
from the following extracts from the representations in 
his behalf, transmitted from Stirling to the Commission 
of Assembly, at their meeting, in August 1733. 



378 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The Presbytery of Stirling state, u that we being 
enjoined by the last General Assembly to report to this 
diet of the Reverend Commission the conduct and be- 
haviour of our Reverend Brother. Mr. Ebenezer Er- 
skine. with respect to the act of Assembly in his affair ; 
do represent, that in our inquiries this day in this mat- 
ter, a very favourable report was made to us concern- 
ing him." " Mr. Erskine's character," they add, " is 
so established among the body of professors in this part 
of the Church, that we believe even the authority of an 
Assembly condemning him cannot lessen it; yea, the 
condemnation itself in the present case, will tend to 
heighten it.'' The Presbytery represent, in very strong 
terms, both the injustice and inexpediency of proceed- 
ing to suspend him for the protest he had taken against 
the deed of Assembly, which they consider as meaning 
no more than " a solemn testimony and declaration of 
his own mind for the vindication of himself, and which 
he thought might tend to the preservation of the rights 
and privileges of this Church in cases of defection." 

"We beg leave to observe," say the Kirk-Sessiox 
of Stirling, " that having had a trial of Mr. Erskine's 
ministerial gifts and labours these two years bygone, 
we cannot but own that, according to our discerning 
and experience, his Lord and Master hath endowed 
him with a very edifying gift of teaching and preach- 
ing, and many other good qualifications every way fit- 
ted for the office of the ministry, and particularly in 
this city and congregation ; which, together with the 
great pains he has taken in the other parts of his mini- 
sterial labours, and, we hope, not without success ; and 
all attended with a very tender walk, wise and prudent 
behaviour, have made him most acceptable to us, and 



THE &EV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



379 



persons of all distinctions in this place, and particularly 
God's serious remnant in it." " We are verily per- 
suaded, that if the Reverend Commission shall, not- 
withstanding, execute the Assembly's orders at this 
time, and lay Mr. Ebenezer Erskine under the sen- 
tence of suspension, and that for no other reason but 
the protest given in by him to the last Assembly, which 
he himself acknowledged to be in its own nature, and 
in the signification of the word, nothing else but a so- 
lemn testimony for, and declaration of the truth, when 
men conceive it to be injured ; and such a declaration 
as he judged might be given without any contempt of 
church authority ; we say that if such a sentence should 
be passed against such a minister, for such a reason, 
we fear it will have too great an influence upon our 
people, to alienate their minds and hearts from that re- 
spect and affection, which otherwise they owe to mini-* 
sters, church judicatories, and their Commissions." 

The Magistrates and Town Council of the 
burgh of Stirling, in fine, for themselves "and in name of 
the whole community thereof," with equal earnestness, 
entreated the Commission to forbear pronouncing a sen- 
tence against their minister, which could not fail to be 
" very moving and afflicting" to them. Among other 
statements they say, " We beg leave briefly to repre- 
sent that Mr. Erskine was settled as an additional mi- 
nister among us, for the greater edification of the place, 
and that with no small trouble and expense ; that we 
have always lived in good friendship with him, after 
now two full years acquaintance ; that we find him to 
be a man of a peaceable disposition of mind, and of a 
religious walk and conversation, and to be every way 
fitted and qualified for discharging the office of the mi- 



380 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



nistry among us; and that he has, accordingly, dis- 
charged the same to our great satisfaction."* 

These ample attestations from the Presbytery, the 
Session, and the Magistrates of Stirling, possess very 
great weight, and entitle the individual whom they 
concern to candid consideration, with reference to any 
particular cause which he had resolved to support. 

His sterling integrity in espousing and maintaining 
that cause which led him eventually to secede from the 
national church, is above suspicion. His whole con- 
duct gave evidence that he was animated by conscien- 
tious respect to the principles of Scripture ; and, by an 
ardent desire to promote the true welfare of the churchy 
and to prevent what he deemed incalculably ruinous to 
the best interests of men. The pernicious tendency of 
the act of Assembly 1732, respecting the settlement of 
vacant parishes made a deep impression on his mindj 
and this impression was greatly strengthened by the 
parallel procedure which speedily ensued. " I am firm- 
ly persuaded," says he, near the close of his Reasons of 
Appeal, " if a timely remedy be not provided, this act 
will very soon terminate in the utter ruin of a faithful 
ministry in the Church of Scotland."-)* According to 
his fixed and deliberate judgment, truth had fallen in 
the street ; and the injuries which the course of admi- 
nistration pursued for years by the General Assembly 
had done to the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel as 

* These quotations are taken verbatim from the Appendix to a 
Pamphlet published 1733, entitled " Representations of Messrs. 
E. E. and J. F., W. W. and A. M." pp. 65, 66, 70, 71, 73, 74. 

f True State of the Process, p. 45. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 381 



well as to the interest of religious liberty, rendered it 
the imperative duty of the friends of Christ to adopt 
the most vigorous and decisive measures.* 

His unquestionable integrity was graced by the for- 
titude and dignity with which he maintained his cause. 
His magnanimity was the effect, not merely of natural 
temperament, but of humble confidence in the God 
whom he served, and in the faithful promises of Scrip- 
ture respecting the ultimate prosperity of Zion, and of 
them that seek her good. Accordingly, at the conclu- 
sion of the Representation addressed by him and Mr. 
Fisher to the Commission of Assembly that met in 
August 1733, he has the following expressions : " But 
if, after all, the Commission shall think fit to execute 
the above unjust sentence against us, then adhering to 
this our representation and protestation, we commit our 
cause to Him that judgeth righteously, and who exe- 
cuteth righteousness and judgment for all that are op- 
pressed. We firmly believe that, whatever measures 

* Similar views are thus expressed by his friend Mr. Wilson, 
of Perth. " As to the present state and condition," says that 
excellent man in his Diary, 10th Nov. 1731, " of the Church of 
Scotland, matters look with a very dismal and threatening as- 
pect ; ministers are thrust in upon vacant parishes contrary to 
the wishes of elders and people in all corners of the land. Disaf- 
fected heritors interest themselves everywhere in the settlement 
of parishes, and they introduce such ministers as elders and peo- 
ple are averse to. Our congregations are thus planted with a 
set of corrupt ministers, who are strangers to the power of god- 
liness ; and, therefore, neither in their doctrine nor walk is there 
any savour of Christ among them. Yea, such are becoming the 
prevailing party among the ministry, and too many of these are 
mockers at the exercises and real experiences of the godly," &c. 
Ferrier's Mem. of the Rev. W. Wilson, pp, 168, 169. 



382 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



are now taken, the Lord will arise and have mercy up- 
on Zion ; and when the time to favour her is come, he 
will appear in his glory, and regard the prayer of the 
destitute ; upon which account the people which shall 
be created shall praise the Lord." 

Though those who well knew him could, as we have 
just seen, eulogise him as " a man of a peaceable dispo- 
sition," he was not found pusillanimous or irresolute in 
the matters of God. The same Christian courage with 
which he testified against existing defections in his ser- 
mons at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Stir- 
ling, characterized his behaviour after he was arraigned 
as a pannel at their bar. His answers to the remarks 
of his accusers discover undaunted resolution. — " As to 
the last remark," he says, for example, " concerning the 
act of Assembly lodging the power of election in heri- 
tors and elders, I cannot, and dare not retract my tes- 
timony against it, either before the Assembly, the day 
after it was passed into an act, or by what I said in my 
sermon before this Reverend Synod ; in regard I can- 
not see the authority of the King of Zion giving war- 
rant to confer the power of voting in the election of mini- 
sters upon heritors beyond other Christians ; especially 
when in the said act, heritors disaffected both to church 
and state are put upon a level with those of our com- 
munion."* — In the concluding sentence of his Preface 
to that noted sermon as it proceeded from the press, 
he expresses in the following terms, that dignified com- 
posure with which he anticipated the result of the pro- 
secution : "If any of the author's friends and well- 
wishers be afraid of further trouble to him upon account 



* True State, &c. pp. 23, 24. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



383 



of this sermon ; let them know that, through grace, he 
chooses rather to suffer with the oppressed members of 
Christ, than to enjoy all the ease and pleasure of those 
who oppress them in their spiritual liberties ; which, be- 
ing the purchase of the Redeemer's blood, will be reck- 
oned for before the scene be ended."* — Even when he 
appeared in the presence of the General Assembly and 
its Commission, his respect for ecclesiastical authority 
was accompanied with dignity of demeanour and intre- 
pidity of soul. His antagonists perhaps expected to 
overpower him by their superior numbers, angry coun- 
tenances, and menacing words, in particular, by the 
terrors of suspension and excommunication. But all 
their assaults were impotent, like the dashing of the 
raging waves on the immovable rock. Relying on his 
Almighty Guardian, he calmly persisted in the dis- 
charge of his duty. On his way home, we are inform- 
ed, immediately after the Commission had suspended 
him, he assisted the Rev. Mr. Kidd, of Queensferry, in 
the administration of the Lord's Supper ; and, on the 
Sabbath morning, at the commencement of public wor- 
ship, he gave out part of the 51st Psalm to be sung, 
including these lines, on which he threw out some 
fecting observations : 

My closed lips, O Lord, by thee 

Let them be opened ; 
Then shall thy praises by my mouth 

Abroad be published. 

This man of God, in a word, showed no small por- 
tion of the Christian heroism displayed by Scotish Re- 



• Works of E. E. rol. i. pp. 453-4. 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



formers in preceding ages. It was imputed, indeed, 
to him and his coadjutors as a crime, that they had 
" unparalleled boldness."* 

To unshrinking firmness and resolution he added 
consummate ability and judgment in his manner of con- 
ducting his cause. In that intelligence and quick ap- 
prehension which were indispensable, when struggling 
with chafed and acute adversaries, prepared to avail 
themselves of every advantage, and to bring ill-founded 
or aggravated charges against him, — he was not defi- 
cient. A few instances of the talent he discovered may 
be culled from authentic documents relating to the 
process. 

His answers to the remarks which the Committee of 
Synod made on his sermon, are at once judicious and 
temperate. He destroys the force of their first remark 
by a single sentence — an ingenuous expression of hu- 
mility and modesty. " The first charge is, < that the 
strain of a great part of the sermon appears to com- 
pare the ministers of this Church with the most corrupt 
teachers under the Old Testament/ This charge is 
not, nor cannot be proven by any passage in my dis- 
course ; for I know there is a great body of faithful 
ministers in the Church of Scotland, with whom I do 
not reckon myself worthy to be compared."-)- Another 
remark was, that he charged his forefathers with a sin- 
ful silence or negligence, because he said he did not 
recollect any particular act of Assembly, since the Re- 
volution, asserting the supreme headship of Christ in 
the Church, in opposition to the encroachments made 

* Act of Assembly, 1739. Re-exhibition, p. 224 
t True State, p. 20. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 385 

upon it in the late times of persecution and tyranny. 
" I answer," he replies, " although I have a very great 
regard to the instruments of our deliverance at the Re- 
volution, particularly the godly ministers who survived 
the flood of persecuting tyranny, and my own Father 
among the rest ; yet I hope the Reverend Synod will 
excuse me, though I do not look upon those worthy 
ministers, or these that have succeeded them, to this 
day, as infallible ; but, if the Reverend Synod can show 
me where the headship and sovereignty of Christ has 
been asserted by any particular act of Assembly, since 
the Revolution, in opposition to those encroachments, 
I shall very willingly own my mistake ; but, if not, I 
humbly move that the Reverend Synod may address 
the ensuing Assembly for supplying that defect."* 

His honest dexterity appeared also in the successful 
check which, during the discussion in the Synod, he 
gave to Mr. Adam Ferguson of Killin, whose zeal had 
transported him beyond the bounds of discretion. 
Having been accused by that member of deviating 
" from the standards of this Church/' he requested 
that his accuser be obliged by the Synod to make good 
his charge, and thereupon took instruments. Mr. Fer- 
guson found himself in consequence under the neces- 
sity of explaining his statement and retracting his 
charge.f 

When Mr. Erskine stood at the bar of the Assembly, 
he acquitted himself in a manner equally worthy of his 
talents. In his " Reasons of Appeal" he urges the plea 
of necessity for the faithful testimony he had delivered 
in the sermon so loudly decried. " Being, quite con- 

* True State, p. 23. + Ibid. pp. 26, 29, 30. 

S 



386 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



trary to his inclination, put into the chair, at Stirling, 
and therefore obliged to preach before the Synod at 
Perth, he found himself under a necessity, by virtue of 
his commission from God, and in an agreeableness to 
the commendable acts and constitutions of this Church 
in former times, to be free and faithful in declaring 
what he looked upon as a departure from the corner- 
stone"* He complains, and apparently not without 
reason, of the prejudice and bitterness of spirit mani- 
fested by the prevailing party in the Synod, as dis- 
abling them for "judging impartially in his cause." 
" They knew very well," he says, " I was a stranger 
lately come within their bounds ; which, according to 
the rules both of natural and revealed religion, bound 
them to humanity and civility [towards me,] especially 
when standing, on the matter, as a pannel at their bar, 
willing to submit to any censure clearly founded on the 
word of God, or the rules of this Church. But such 
hard names and speeches were passed, in the course of 
reasoning, as plainly discovered a bias and ferment ; 
and that not against me only, but against the grave and 
honourable audience before whom I had preached. 
But I forbear to be more particular, unless I be obliged 
to it before the bar of the Assembly."f With regard 
to the Synod's omitting to specify any one article of 
faith or rule of practice he had violated, and the vague 
charge of disregarding the law of charity, which some 
members had advanced, he makes the following concise 
and pointed remarks : — " I submit it to the Venerable 
Assembly to judge if it is just and equal dealing to 
condemn any man for a multitude of expressions in 



* True State, p. 36. 



f Ibid. pp. 37, 38. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 387 



cumulo, without showing the particular rules which he 
has transgressed. 'Tis true, it was cast up in the course 
of reasoning, that the appellant had transgressed the law 
of love and charity, by taking notice of some of the parti- 
cular evils of the day; but this is a very unjust alledgance 
[allegation,] if it be considered that a minister of 
Christ discovers the greatest love to his own soul, and 
to the generation, when he gives faithful warning from 
God, that people may not rush upon God's neck, and 
the thick bosses of his buckler."* His reasoning in sup- 
port of his remonstrance against the act of Assembly, 
1732, is also full of energy. The following extract 
may suffice for a specimen : 

" It is alleged 6 that, by subscribing the Formula, I 
am engaged not to preach against any act of Assem- 
bly.' But this can have no manner of weight, in re- 
gard it cannot be supposed that any thinking man ever 
engaged to be subject to all acts of Assembly that 
might take place after his subscription, unless they were 
agreeable unto, and founded upon the word of God : 
For this were to take it for granted that the church is 
infallible, and were a binding the conscience of men to 
an implicit obedience ; which, I am very sure, was 
never the intendment of our engagements by the For- 
mula. Our subjection to Presbyteries is only in the 
Lord ; from which no argument can be adduced for a 
sinful silence, as to acts and constitutions, which seem 
to us to be against Christ's interest and authority over 
his church."f 

His extemporaneous reasoning before the Assembly 
was also creditable to his caution and ability. He 



* True State, p. 40. 



+ Ibid. pp. 43, 44. 



388 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



clearly proved that the Synod had violated an express 
rule in the Form of process, by instituting a prosecu- 
tion against him for censure, without ever showing 
wherein he had departed from the word of God and the 
standards of the church. — When Mr. Mercer intro- 
duced an impertinent story of disturbances which had 
occurred at the settlement in the parish of Kinfauns, 
he justly complained of the speech "as designed to 
lodge the blame of the disorders at Kinfauns on his ser- 
mon, which yet was not preached for several months 
after these disorders had happened."* — It was moved 
by a reverend member of Assembly, that Mr. Erskine 
might be asked if he owned what the advocate had 
spoken at the bar as his own sentiments in his affair, and 
if he would give any sense or explication of the proposi- 
tions charged against him by the Synod. Those ques- 
tions being, accordingly, proposed to him by the Mo- 
derator, instantly aware of their object, and determined 
not to become his own accuser, he, with great proprie- 
ty, replied, " that as he would not adopt every thing 
spoken by the lawyer at the bar, so neither would he 
put any sense upon the propositions as stated by the 
Synod in their charge, in regard they were their own, 
and none of his."f 

* The settlement here referred to, is thus described in Mr? 

Wilson's Diary : " In the month of March Mr. Charles F 

was ordained in Kinfauns upon a call signed by seven heritors 

and life-renters. One of them, viz. Mr. C , of Glendoig, was 

an elder, and the only gentleman of our communion who signed 
the call. All the rest of the elders, being six, together with the 
whole congregation, were reclaiming against the settlement." 
Ferrier's Memoirs of Rev. W. Wilson, p. 181. 

-j* True State, pp. 4, 6. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 389 

In his appearances before the Commission he manifest- 
ed similar firmness and discretion. At the meeting in 
August, being interrogated u Whether he was sorry for 
protesting against the authority of the last Assembly, 
and if he now retracted his protest ?" He answered, 
" He was indeed sorry that what he had done should 
be interpreted by any a contempt of the authority of 
the judicatories of this church, no such thing being in- 
tended by his protest, but only a solemn adherence un- 
to the truths of God delivered in his Synodical sermon, 
for the emitting of which he had been rebuked and ad- 
monished solemnly at the Assembly's bar, as though he 
had vented some notorious error or heresy." With 
respect to the other part of the question, — Whether or 
not he retracted his protestation, he referred them to 
the written answers which he and his protesting Breth- 
ren had drawn up. The Moderator then informed him 
that the Commission had resolved to read none of their 
papers, but that they must answer viva voce to the above 
questions. Mr. Erskine, however, maintained that it 
was the privilege of a person sisted before any court to 
make his defence either by word or writ, as he thought 
proper, and again urged the acceptance of his written 
answers. After two hours were spent to no purpose 
" in pumping Mr. Erskine for an answer viva voce" he 
was removed ; and after some debate, it was carried by 
a vote that his representation should be read ; which 
was accordingly done, though contrary to the first re- 
solution they had passed. The Representation itself, 
subscribed by Messrs. Erskine and Fisher, as was for- 
merly said, is a masterly production. It states with 
great perspicuity and force a series of principles re- 
specting the sovereign authority of Christ, the only 



390 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



King and Head of the Church — the spiritual nature of 
his kingdom — the subserviency of his laws and ordi- 
nances to the edification and welfare of his subjects — 
the sufficiency and immutability of that system of laws 
which he has given — the limited and ministerial nature 
of all church power — the fallibility of church judicato- 
ries — the right of private judgment — and the duty of 
lamenting and of protesting against those perversions 
of church authority which are injurious to the cause of 
truth, and to the liberties of Christ's kingdom. The 
Representors then point out their particular objections 
against the Act of Assembly 1732, and the reasons for 
which they could not conscientiously retract their pro- 
test. They happily avail themselves, in fine, of former 
precedents, particularly that of the Protesters against 
the Public Resolutions in the year 1651. The follow- 
ing paragraph, on the right of private judgment, may 
suffice for a sample of the tone and sentiment of this 
valuable paper : 

- < It is the indispensable duty of every church mem- 
ber to examine, by the judgment of discretion, every 
thing imposed or enjoined by church authority, whe- 
ther it agree with the unerring rule of the word. We 
are to 4 prove all things,' and < hold fast that which is 
good.' We must < not believe every spirit, but try the 
spirits, whether they are of God ; because many false 
prophets are gone out into the world,' 1 Thess. v. 21 ; 
1 John iv. 1. Hence the Bereans are commended as 
* noble' and excellent persons for trying the doctrines 
of the Apostles themselves, whether they did agree 
with that part of the canon of the Scriptures then ex- 
tant. And if after a diligent and impartial search, the 
acts and constitutions of judicatories be found repug- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 391 



nant to the word of God, we must not bring our con- 
sciences in bondage thereunto, but ' stand fast in the 
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.' Neither 
doth this encourage men to transgress the line of sub- 
ordination appointed in the word, but only constitutes 
them judges of their own actions, which they are obliged 
to conform, not to the decrees of men, but to the rule 
of the word ; according to the practice of the Apostles, 
who, when discharged by the Jewish council to speak 
any more in the name of Jesus, found themselves 
obliged boldly to answer, 6 Whether it be right to obey 
God or man, judge ye?' This their practice exactly 
corresponding to that Old Testament rule, < To the law 
and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to 
this word, it is because there is no light in them,' Is. 
viii. 20, — which beyond doubt is obligatory upon infe- 
riors as well as superiors." * 

These instances, we think, afford satisfactory evi- 
dence of the capacity and judgment, as well as integrity 
and fortitude, that marked the conduct of Ebenezer 
Erskine, as the prime leader in that important cause, 
in behalf of which he ultimately became a seceder. 

The intelligent reader will observe that a number of 
the above statements are calculated, in some degree, to 
obviate several objections to his deportment with re- 
ference to that cause, which were not only urged at 
the first, but have been frequently repeated in succeed- 
ing times. A few of those objections appear to de- 
mand a little further consideration. 

• The Representations of Messrs. E. Erskine, J. Fisher. W. 
Wilson, and A. Moncrieff to the Commission, &c. pp. 8, 9. 



392 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



He has been accused of self-inconsistency with re- 
gard to the right of Christians to call their own pas- 
tors. This was one of the accusations preferred against 
him by the clergymen who found fault with his Synod 
sermon in 1732 ; and it has been revived by some late 
authors.* They represent his condemnation of the act 
of Assembly 1732 as grounded on principles at vari- 
ance with those on which the settlement of parishes 
had been conducted ever since the Revolution. Let 
it suffice at present to cite his own vindication of him- 
self from the attack of his original accusers : 

" As to the second remark," says he, " when speak- 
ing of the characters of the workmen employed about 
the house of God, I adhere to my notes on that head, 
which I have not now time to transcribe, as the truths 
of God ; but deny they infer the charge of my looking 
upon all the ministers of this church as thieves and 
robbers; for I know that a vast many of them have 
both God's call and the church's call. But as for the 
violent settlements that have taken place since the pa- 
tronage act, I cannot think upon them as warranted by 
the word of God. As to the last part of this remark, 
that the call of a minister ought not to be by the heri- 
tors or any other set of men, and refused that any mi- 

* See in particular Sir Henry MoncreifTs Account of the Life 
and Writings of Dr. Erskine, Append, p. 444, &c. The Rev. 
.Baronet dwells at large on the measures adopted for obtaining a 
second minister to Dunfermline in 1718. His manner of stating 
that case will fall to be considered in a Memoir of Mr. Ralph 
Erskine. The inquiring reader is referred, meanwhile, to the 
Review of MoncreiiF's Life of Dr. Erskine in the Christ. Repos. 
vol. iv. pp. 551-560. On the general question he may consult 
Strutters' Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. book vii. pp. 599-616. 



THE HEV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 393 

nister had God's call, who had only a call from the he- 
ritors, by which he evidently excludes the whole mi- 
nisters of the Church of Scotland, and himself among 
them, from having the call of God, the body of Christ- 
ians never having been allowed to vote in the election 
of a minister. I answer, I own that the call of a mi- 
nister ought not to be by heritors as such, in regard 
that no such titles or distinctions of men are known in 
the kingdom of Christ. The only heritors there, are 
they that are 6 rich in faith, they being heirs of the 
kingdom ;' these are they that are 6 precious in the 
sight of God and honourable.' And I am of opinion 
that in dispensing the privileges of Christ's kingdom, 
we ought to put honour and value upon men, not upon 
the account of their worldly heritages, but as they are 
valuable in the sight of God, and as his image is to be 
found upon them. Upon the same remark I further 
add, That as the election of ministers ought not to be 
by heritors as such, (far less these not of our commu- 
nion,) nor any other set of men, but by the church, and 
I think I have good reason to refuse that any minister 
hath God's call, who has only a call from the heritors, 
renitente et contradicente ecclesia ; * yet notwithstand- 
ing, I do not hereby exclude the whole ministers of 
the Church of Scotland, nor myself among them, from 
having the call of God : In regard that from the Re- 
volution till the act of Patronage came to be in force, 
I know of no settlement, but where the body of the 
Christian people concurred in the election of their mi- 
nister ; and in the practice of the church, till of late, 
they were allowed to vote. Yea, to my certain know- 



* 6 While the church opposes and reclaims.' 



394 LIFE AND DIARY OP 

ledge, in the south of Scotland, Presbyteries and other 
Judicatories, with the Christian people, wrestled joint- 
ly for the settlement of congregations, in opposition to 
malignant and disaffected heritors ; but tempora mutan- 
tur"* 

His remonstrating in the pulpit, against those pro- 
ceedings of church courts of which he disapproved, has 
formed the subject of another charge against Mr. 
Erskine. For this part of his conduct, as we have 
seen, he was severely censured by the ruling clergy of 
his own age ; and the same accusation has been re- 
newed in more recent times. Candour and impartia- 
lity, however, require us to observe, that, in resorting 
to this mode of resisting error and oppression, and of 
defending truth and liberty, he and his seceding Breth- 
ren were by no means singular. The Rev. Messrs. 
Boston of Ettrick, Willison of Dundee, Currie of King- 
lassie, Bisset of Aberdeen, Lindsay of Bothkennar, and 
several others who never took part in the secession, 
were accustomed to use the same liberties. It is but 
fair also to weigh the strong reasons assigned by him- 
self for these public remonstrances. " If any think/' 
says he, in his Preface to the Synod sermon, " upon 
the reading of the following discourse, that there is too 
great freedom used with respect to the present steps of 
defection ; let them remember that there is now no 
other way left to bear testimony against such things, 
but by warning the world against them from press or 
pulpit ; representations and petitions from ministers or 

* 6 The times are changed.' The True State, &c. pp. 21, 
22, 23. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 395 

church members at the bar being utterly disregarded; 
and no access to enter any protest or dissent against 
these proceedings in the public records, for the exone- 
ration of conscience, or the instruction of our posterity 
that such things did not pass in our day without a 
struggle and testimony against them." * On this topic 
too, the following sentiments occur in his Reasons of 
Appeal : " A watchman must exonerate himself upon 
the peril of his soul. Tis true he ought not knowingly 
to sound a false alarm. But whether is it safer for the 
city to have a false alarm sounded upon an apprehended 
danger, or to have the mouth of the watchman stop- 
ped, that he cannot sound an alarm when the danger 
is real and the city fallen into the hands of the 
enemy ?" f 

Mr. Erskine, in common -with all his coadjutors, has 
been taxed with schism and culpable obstinacy fox not 
embracing the opportunity of returning to the bo- 
som of the National Church, presented, as has been 
mentioned above, by the General Assembly 1734. The 
conciliatory measures then adopted were truly far more 
laudable in themselves, and much better adapted to 
serve a good purpose, than the intolerant acts of some 
preceding Assemblies which had proved so generally 
offensive, and the severities that had been employed for 
intimidation. It is not wonderful that the orthodox 
ministers of the establishment, who had displayed un- 

* Works, vol. i. p. 453. 

The True State, &c. p. 39. Some excellent remarks are 
made on this subject by the late Rev. John Patison of Edin- 
burgh, in his Preface to the first edition of M'E wen's Essays, 
pp. 56-69. Note. 



396 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



common activity and zeal in promoting the adoption 
of these pacific measures felt considerably disappointed 
and even chagrined, when, after all their efforts, the four 
Brethren declined an immediate return. These Breth- 
ren themselves were neither without the sensibility that 
feels and appreciates well-intended exertions of friends, 
nor void of the candour that recognises with pleasure 
the least appearances of reformation on the part of 
those that have erred. What course it was now incum- 
bent on them to adopt, was the subject of their delibe- 
rate, frequent, and prayerful consideration. Influenced 
by convictions of duty, they finally resolved not to ac- 
cede immediately to the Judicatories, but to remain at 
least a little longer in a state of secession, till they saw 
more ample evidence of a real change in the procedure 
pursued by the ecclesiastical courts. Subsequent events 
served, in their apprehension, to demonstrate the pro- 
priety of this resolution ; and Mr. Wilson of Perth, 
that individual of their number who had shown the 
strongest inclination to accept immediately of the invi- 
tation to return, was ultimately convinced that the re- 
solution not to accede at that time was judiciously 
formed. 

It is not our intention to institute a full inquiry into 
the grounds of their refusal to accede ; nor is this ne- 
cessary. The reasons alleged by themselves are en- 
titled to calm and dispassionate consideration.* A brief 
and forcible outline of these reasons has lately been 
given to the world in an authorized document.f We 
shall only direct the attention of the reader to some 

* Re-exhibition, pp. 229-256. 

■f Testimony of the United Assoc. Syn, pp. 45-52. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 397 

extracts from a long letter addressed by Mr. Erskine, in- 
dividually, to the Moderator of the Presbytery of Stir- 
ling, in reply to an invitation given him, by that Pres- 
bytery, some time after the sentences pronounced by 
the Commission, 1733, against the four Brethren, had 
been " taken off:" 
" Reverend Sir, 

" The Reverend Presbytery, at 
their last meeting in this place, having done me the 
honour to choose me for their Moderator, and to send 
two of their members to invite me to take the chair, I 
returned such an answer as occurred at the time, with 
my thanks to the Reverend Brethren who had put that 
piece of respect upon me. But in regard I understand 
the chair is not yet filled with a new election, and that 
this perhaps might flow from some misunderstanding of 
my verbal answer to the two Brethren, I beg leave to 
declare myself a little more fully upon that head. 

" The return I made, if I rightly remember, was, that 
matters were now come to that situation both with re- 
spect to the Established Church and the four Brethren, 
that, for my own part, until I saw some other steps ta- 
ken towards reformation than any that had yet appeared 
to me, I could not accede to communion with the ju- 
dicatories, and consequently could not accept of the 
Moderator's chair in the Presbytery of Stirling." 

[After expressing his esteem for those worthy mini- 
sters of the Established Church with whom at that 
time he still maintained a brotherly communion and 
correspondence, he adverts to the ejection of the four 
Brethren, by the judicatories, to the circumstances of 
spiritual destitution to which many Christians, in va- 
rious parts of the land, had been reduced, by means of 



398 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



violent intrusions ; to the encouragement these Breth- 
ren had to afford them relief ; since, though they were 
but few, they made a competent number for a court, 
and since " the promise of Christ's gracious presence 
and countenance is not confined to a church enjoying 
the benefit of a legal establishment, but extended even 
to two or three met together in his name ; and to their 
having constituted themselves into a Presbytery, and 
solemnly dedicated themselves to the service of Christ 
and of his oppressed members. He then proceeds to 
show, in the following terms, that the charge of schism 
is " altogether groundless :"] 

" If, in this case, the charge of schism be cast upon 
the four Brethren, it must be either because of the ir- 
regularity of their departure from the judicatories, the 
paucity of their number, the badness of the cause they 
have espoused, the equity of the sentence ejecting 
them, or their acting in an inconsistency with their or- 
dination vows. 

" The first will not be alleged, in regard the four 
Brethren, whatever ground of withdrawing there might 
be from these men who were walking disorderly, yet 
they never went out of the judicatories till they were 
thrust out. It cannot be laid upon the paucity of their 
numbers when compared with the multitude against 
them ; because this would condemn Caleb and Joshua, 
Elijah, Micaiah, and, in short, all the witnesses that 
ever appeared for Christ and his cause in times of de- 
fection. Not the badness of their cause ; for, as they 
contended, according to their measure, for the cove- 
nanted doctrine, discipline, worship, and government 
of the Reformed Church of Scotland, before their 
ejection, so now that they are ejected they espouse no 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 399 



other cause, as appears from their printed testimony, 
and grounds of secession. Is it because we did not 
submit, according to ordination vows, to the rebukes, 
suspensions, and other sentences of judicatories ? I 
answer, if these sentences had been founded upon the 
word of God and the approven practice and acts of the 
Church of Scotland, our non-submission would, no 
doubt, have inferred the charge. But the case was 
quite otherwise ; the sentences were arbitrary and in- 
consistent with the word of God, and the rules of the 
Church ; and we could not submit to them without be- 
traying a testimony, and prostituting our ministry to 
the pleasure of men, and so should not be the servants 
of Christ. 

" Is it because, now that the door is opened, we do 
not return to the communion of the Established Church? 
I answer, that there is a difference to be made betwixt 
the Established Church of Scotland and the Church of 
Christ in Scotland ; for I reckon that the last is in a 
great measure driven into the wilderness by the first. 
And since God, in his adorable providence, has led us 
into the wilderness with her, I judge it our duty to 
tarry with her for a while there, and to prefer her 
afflictions to all the advantages of a legal establish- 
ment, in communion with judicatories as they stand at 
present. And this I firmly believe is no schism before 
the Lord, whatever it may be reckoned in the eyes of 
the world. However, whenever it shall appear to me 
that the established judicatories are heartily adopting 
the cause of Christ, purging and planting his house ac- 
cording to his will, and the solemn covenants lying 
upon the land, and doing justice to his oppressed mem- 
bers through Scotland, I hope not only to return to 



400 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



communion, but to enter the gates of our Zion with 
praise. 

" I know it is strenuously pleaded, that what was 
done by the last Assembly lays a sufficient ground for 
our accession, notwithstanding all that is past. I can- 
not help differing from those that are of this opinion. 
I humbly conceive there is a great difference betwixt 
a positive reformation, and a stop or sist given to a 
deformation. I am far from derogating from the stand 
made by the worthy members of the last Assembly 
against the career of the corrupt party. But allow 
me to say, that to me any thing done appears rather 
a check or restraint upon those men for a time, than 
any real cleanly reformation. We have not heard of 
their repenting of their evil deeds. The party are as 
numerous in judicatories, and acted [actuated] by the 
same spirit of defection as ever ; and, for the most part, 
carry the affairs of Christ's kingdom, in inferior courts, 
in the same channel, since the Assembly 1734, as before. 

" Some Brethren call us to come in and help them 
against the current of defection. But now that the 
hand of Providence has taken us out of the current 
against which we were swimming, and set us upon the 
reformation ground by a solemn testimony and consti- 
tution, it would be vain for us to endanger ourselves 
by running into the current again, unless our reverend 
Brethren, who call for our help, can persuade us that 
our so doing will turn the current and save both them 
and ourselves, and so preserve the Lord's work and tes- 
timony. In my opinion, it would be by far much safer 
for these Brethren to come out of the dangerous cur- 
rent to us, than for us now to come back to them, Jer. 
xv. 19-21. No doubt, worldly interest gives a strong 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 401 



bias against this motion ; but if it be duty, we are bound 
to forsake all and follow the Lord." 

[Having thus repelled the charge of schism, the 
writer goes forward to point out particularly the im- 
portant defects attending the repeal of the act 1730, 
with reference to the recording of dissents and protests ; 
and of the act 1732 relating to the settlement of vacant 
parishes; and to show that the repeal was little better than 
nominal, and that no sufficient evidence was given of ac- 
tual reformation, or of an abandonment of the corrupt 
principles of administration held by the prevailing party. 
In a subsequent paragraph, he candidly states his views 
of the highly unsatisfactory manner in which the unjust 
sentences passed against the four Brethren were re- 
moved. The Assembly had thought proper to remove 
them, merely on the ground of expediency, while all in- 
quiry into the nature and cause of these sentences was 
strictly prohibited :] 

" The last Assembly ordered the Synod of Perth and 
Stirling to cast open the doors, and invite us back to 
ministerial communion, which, accordingly, was done. 
But, were the sentences of rebuke, suspension, and ex- 
communication declared groundless, arbitrary, or in- 
consistent with the word of God, and that ministerial 
freedom which God has allowed in witnessing publicly 
against public defections ? Nay, the Synod is express- 
ly inhibite from meddling with any thing that was past 
hinc inde ; by which means truth falls in the streets, 
and the consideration of equity cannot enter, and the 
authority of the church interposed in these acts and 
censures still abides untouched, however iniquous ; 
only an attempt is made to remove the effect without 
touching the cause. But it is a good maxim, ablata 



402 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



causa, tollitur effectus.* And, by comparing the above 
inhibition laid upon the Synod of Perth act 8th, with 
what is said act 9th anent ministerial freedom, to me it 
is pretty evident, that the last Assembly were of opinion 
that the freedom used at the opening of the Synod of 
Perth, October 10, 1732, was neither due nor regular ; 
and, consequently, that the sentences that followed up- 
on our adherence to that mite of a testimony were all 
just and equal, though the effects and consequences 
were like to be bad." 

[He then illustrates the general defection in the 
church, and the futility of the boasted appearances of 
reformation, by plainly reminding the Presbytery of 
their own lamentable inconsistency and flinching, in the 
case of Mr. Mackie, who was translated from Forteviot 
to St. Ninians. They at first rejected the pretended 
call, and refused to admit him, though loosed from his 
former charge by the Presbytery of Perth. When a 
Committee of the Assembly's Commission met to admit 
him, they absolutely refused to give him their presence 
or countenance ; only three of their number attended 
"that clandestine meeting." Yet now they suffered 
him to vote and act as a member of Presbytery ; the 
dissenters from his ministry, in that parish, were not 
allowed a deed in their favour, permitting them to ap- 
ply for church privileges to other ministers of the Pres- 
bytery ; the three ministers who were present at his ad- 
mission were not admonished for their conduct ; — and 
all this, adds Mr. Erskine, " in the very face of a Pro- 
testation to the contrary, entered by my worthy old 
colleague Mr. Hamilton." " Whence is it that he is 

* Take away the cause, and the effect will cease. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 403 



left to stand alone by his brethren, and his hoary hairs 
insulted, in his steady adherence to that cause which 
they themselves adopted, before the intruder got in 
among them ?" 

This faithful and spirited letter is concluded with the 
following words :] 

" If the Reverend Presbytery pleases to insert this 
into their Records as my extended answer to their de- 
sire by the Rev. Mr. Muir and Mr. Lindsay the last 
Presbytery day, they will very much oblige, 

Very Reverend Sir, Yours affectionately in our Lord, 

Ebenezer Erskine.* 

Stirling, Jan. 8, 1735. 

In that passage of this letter where the writer rebuts 
the charge of schism preferred against himself and his 
three associates, he notices the attempt to found it on 
their declining to submit to the rebukes, suspensions, 
and other sentences pronounced against them by the 
judicatories. All human power, whether civil or eccle- 
siastical, has its limits. Whatever deference be due to 
the authority of lawfully constituted courts, and, parti- 
cularly on the part of those who have promised subjec- 
tion to them " in the Lord," decisions and sentences, 

* This letter is contained in a small, and now extremely rare 
pamphlet, formerly referred to, entitled The Testimony and Con- 
tendings of the Rev. Mr. Alex. Hamilton, &c. pp. 69-80. Mr. 
Erskine, it is said, p. 69, caused deliver it into the Moderator's 
hand, January 8, 1735 ; and, being directed to him to be com- 
municated, it was, after some struggle, read coram. The reader 
will do well to compare Mr. Erskine's views with those of his 
friend Mr. Wilson on the same topics^ as expressed in Mr. Fer* 
rier's Memoirs of him, pp. 278-299. 



404 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



which are obviously contrary to the laws of God, and 
the dictates of an enlightened conscience, ought never 
to be acquiesced in. Who will now dare to affirm that 
the seceding Brethren did wrong in asserting the vali- 
dity, and maintaining the exercise of their office, in 
spite of the sentences of suspension and deposition 
thundered against them by the General Assembly, or 
its Commission ? " The Assembly of 1740," says a 
late author, " without finding them erroneous in doc- 
trine, or presenting any charge of immorality against 
them, deposed them from the ministerial office in the 
Established Church."* Disobedience to such arbitrary 
and unrighteous decrees was not only innocent, but 
laudable and necessary ; for they justly thought that, 
by abject submission, they would have betrayed a sa- 
cred trust, and preferred the pleasing of men to the ser- 
vice of Christ. In disregarding those unwarrantable 
decisions, too, we may remark, their conduct was only 
in accordance with that which has been exemplified, 
both before and since, by several excellent men, who 
have been treated with similar injustice. Let two in- 
stances suffice. Mr. John Hepburn, of Urr, in Gal- 
loway, whom some have called " the morning star of 
the Secession," when, in consequence of conscientious 
scruples respecting the oaths that were required of cler- 
gymen, he was deposed by the Assembly 1705, pro- 
tested against the sentence, and continued to exercise 
his ministry till, in August 1707, the Assembly were 
pleased to restore him to his office. Mr. Thomas 
Gillespie, one of the fathers of the Relief Church, for 

* Hist, of the Christian Church, by the author of the Hist, of 
the Reformation, &c. vol. iii. p. 252. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 405 

refusing to concur in the violent settlement of a mini- 
ster at Inverkeithing, was deposed from the ministry, 
and ejected from the parish of Carnock by the Assem- 
bly 1752 ; but he persisted to the day of his death in 
the discharge of his office, as if no such sentence had 
been passed, and became pastor of a respectable con- 
gregation at Dunfermline. The Christian meekness 
and dignity he discovered when the sentence was inti- 
mated to him, commanded the esteem of many who had 
voted for his deposition. He expressed himself in the 
following terms : " Moderator, I receive this sentence 
of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 
with reverence and awe, on account of the Divine con- 
duct in it ; but I rejoice that it is given to me on the 
behalf of Christ, not only to believe in his name, but 
also to suffer for his sake."* 

The only other aspersions cast on Mr. Erskine's 
character to which we shall advert, are the vague 
charges of vanity, pride, and personal resentment. In- 
sinuations to this effect were not only common in his 
own time, but have been hazarded by late writers, from 
whom more candid and honourable sentiments might 
have been looked for. Who would have expected that 
an eminent clergyman, commended by his friends for 
" the decided part he took in every struggle where the 
rights of the Christian people were invaded, or even 
threatened," would have allowed himself to inveigh 
against the Four Brethren as "popular demagogues 
among the clergy," or to attribute their secession mere- 
ly to their keen feelings, irritated by the precipitate 

* Memoir of the Rev. T. Gillespie, Ch. Monitor, vol. ii. p. 669. 



406 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



measures of the courts ? The treatment they met with 
w as, indeed, in many instances, confessedly unjust and 
oppressive. Had they not felt it keenly, they must have 
been utterly void of the common sensibility of men ; 
and, had no portion of human irritation ever mingled 
itself with their pious zeal for the glory of God, and the 
best interests of the church, they must have reached a 
height of angelical perfection seldom, if ever, attained 
in this mortal state. But if, as that writer is pleased to 
admit, " the ministers of the Secession were men of 
worth and principle," neither resentment of injuries and 
indignities, however great, nor that mean ambition and 
contemptible vanity which characterize " the popular 
demagogue," was the motive,- — certainly not the leading 
motive of their conduct, in stating and maintaining a se- 
cession from the judicatories of the Church of Scotland. 
" Worth and principle" would have subdued the work- 
ings of resentment, and repressed the suggestions of am- 
bition and vanity. But, convinced as they were, after 
mature deliberation, and earnest prayer for direction 
to the Father of lights, that, to withdraw from the esta- 
blished judicatories was their incumbent duty, " worth 
and principle" induced them to " go forth to Jesus 
without the camp, bearing his reproach." Actuated 
by pure and elevated views, they chose rather to sacri- 
fice strong prepossessions in favour of a mother-church, 
to forego the endearments of early friendship, to aban- 
don comfortable benefices secured by the state, and to 
expose their reputation to torrents of obloquy, than to 
omit what appeared to them an important and necessary 
service to the cause of God and truth. 

With pleasure we adopt the concluding words of a 
recent vindication of their conduct in refusing to re- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 407 

sume their connection with the established judicato- 
ries : 

" It is easy to impute to them motives arising from 
vanity, or from pride ; but besides that, the cause it- 
self is independent of the motives of the men by whom 
it was conducted ; where is the proof that they were in- 
fluenced by such motives ? There is abundant evi- 
dence that they were afraid of taking any precipitate 
step, that they abandoned, most reluctantly, the hope 
of exercising their ministry in that church in which they 
had been educated and ordained — waiting patiently for 
years before they proceeded to act fully in a judicative 
capacity ; and that they conducted themselves through- 
out with a dignified consistency, and with a scrupulous 
regard to Presbyterial order. To ascribe such tem- 
pers and conduct, either to a low passion for vulgar 
fame, or to a fanatical spirit, is equally contrary to can- 
dour and to common sense."* 



* Test, of the Unit. Assoc. Syn. pp. 51. 52. 



408 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mr. Erskine's persevering fidelity at Stirling — Affair of the five 
Elders who annoyed him — His peaceable withdrawment from the 
Parish church — Erection of a spacious meeting-house — His in- 
creased popularity and usefulness — Active exertions in promot- 
ing the object of the Secession — General prosperity of the cause 
— Correspondence with the Rev. Gabriel Wilson, and George 
Whitefield — Covenanting — Loyalty during the Rebellion 1745-6 
— Conduct with regard to the Breach 1747 — Mr. Erskine chosen 
Professor of Divinity. 

During the whole intervening period between the sen- 
tence of suspension passed by the Commission in 1733, 
and that of deposition pronounced by the Assembly in 
the year 1740, Mr. Erskine continued to officiate in the 
church originally assigned him at Stirling, and to per- 
form with diligence, and with general approbation, the 
various duties of his office. The warm and steadfast 
friendship of Mr. Hamilton, his aged and venerable col- 
league, particularly cheered him. That good man fully 
concurred with him in his views of Christian liberty, as 
well as evangelical doctrine, and never ceased to show 
him the most cordial regard, till it pleased God to re- 
move him by death in January 1738. Mr. Hamilton 
discovered his attachment to the cause of the Associate 
Presbytery, both by offering up his prayers for them in 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 409 



the sanctuary, and by taking his seat amongst them at 
their meetings, when he had an opportunity. 

The kindness shown by the Kirk-Session, and by the 
body of the people, was also exceedingly encouraging. 
Certain measures, however, were adopted by five mem- 
bers of Session, which annoyed both ministers, and 
which Mr. Hamilton repeatedly spoke of as calculated 
to " bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." 
The sum of this unpleasant affair is as follows.* These 
five elders had lived on the same terms of friendship 
with their ministers as their brethren in office, and 
united with them in condemning the violent proceed- 
ings of the church courts. But soon after Mr. Mackie's 
admission, and, as is alleged, at his instigation, they be- 
gan to alter their conduct. They absented themselves 
from the meetings of Session ; and in consequence, a 
little before the administration of the Lord's Supper in 
spring 1737, they were " gravely and judiciously re- 
buked" by Mr. Hamilton for their repeated neglects. 
Irritated at this reproof, they became still more refrac- 
tory, and watched an opportunity of molesting their 
pastors. The intimation respecting communicants, 
which the two ministers, as was formerly stated,f had 
agreed to make, proving offensive to such parishioners 
as were hostile to serious piety, the five elders were 
prompted to make that intimation, and the correspond- 
ing procedure which followed, a ground of complaint. 
At a meeting of Session held soon after the close of the 
sacramental solemnity for distributing collections among 

• Most of the particulars here related are taken from the Copy 
of the Libel, &c. with the Assoc. Presbytery's Remarks upon it, 
Re-exhibition, p. 192, et seq. 

+ Pages 342-3. 

T 



410 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the poor, these men appeared with a protest full of in- 
jurious reflections on their ministers and fellow-elders ; 
declaring, in particular, that all the deeds of the Session 
should be considered null and void, while Mr. Erskine 
sat there as Moderator or member. This protest hav- 
ing been carried to the superior courts, these five 
elders were countenanced by the dominant clergy, and 
even declared to be the only Session of Stirling, while 
the other twelve elders, who had adhered to their mini- 
sters in the faithful exercise of discipline, were summarily 
condemned. The magistrates of Stirling, meantime, in- 
terposed their authority, by prohibiting the twelve, though 
" not actually suspended from any part of their office/* 
to collect the offerings for the poor ; and by appointing 
the five, exclusively, to stand at the church doors for 
that purpose. Under these singular circumstances, 
Mr. Erskine deemed it his duty, as minister of the 
place, on Sabbath the 25th Feb. 1739, being the first 
day that the five elders collected by appointment of the 
magistrates, to bear testimony in presence of the con- 
gregation against this intrusion. With great solemnity 
and dignity, he protested against it as an invasion of 
the prerogative of Christ, a violent thrust at his own 
ministry, a robbery committed upon the congrega- 
tion, and an injury to its lawful rulers — now thrust 
out by an erastian and tyrannical authority, without 
any libel, process, or pretended crime. Nay, he went 
a step further. In the name of the Lord of hosts, he 
summoned "the five pretended and intruded elders" 
by name and sirname, to appear before the judgment- 
seat of Christ to answer for their conduct ; and warned 
all in the congregation under his inspection to beware 
of countenancing these five men as lawful officers in 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 411 



the church of Christ, as they would not partake of their 
sin and punishment.* After the lapse of a few months, 
he called on the congregation to make a new election 
of elders to co-operate with the twelve, whom he consi- 
dered as the only " lawful Session." This appears 
from the following memorandum, copied from his 43d 
Note-book : 

" Memorandum. — Remember to intimate the design 
of an election of new officers for discipline and regulat- 
ing the affairs of the poor. You all know into what 
confusion we and this congregation are cast, through the 
arbitrary conduct of the judicatories in imposing five 
elders upon us, whom the great body of the congrega- 
tion have not freedom to own ; by which means the 
comely order of the house of God is disturbed, disci- 
pline is broken, profanity encouraged, the collections 
are withheld, and the poor starved ; all which are cry- 
ing evils in this place. I know no power or authority, 
civil or ecclesiastical, in the land, that is capable to 
rectify this evil, but the congregation itself. Their 
charity to the poor is their own ; and they only have 
the power to choose their own officers, who are to ex- 
ercise discipline, and to manage their collections by 
disposing thereof unto proper objects. This is a na- 
tural right which pertains unto every society of men, 
and confirmed to the Church by a Divine warrant, and 

* A complete copy of this protest may be seen in the Re-exhi- 
bition, pp. 203-4. The names of the five elders, as mentioned 
there, are Henry Christie, William Maben, Robert Banks, An- 
drew Millar, Henry Allan. We observe the names of all of 
them, with the exception of Henry Christie, among the subscrib- 
ers of the Representation of the Kirk-Session of Stirling in fa- 
vour of Mr. E. Erskine, presented to the Synod of Perth and 
Stirling in April 1733. 



412 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the practice of the Apostles, Acts vi. Where you see, 
that when the affairs of the church, particularly that 
concerning the poor, were in confusion, it was found 
needful that proper officers should be chosen to manage 
these matters. The Apostles, though they were di- 
vinely inspired, and under an infallible conduct, would 
not take upon them to intrude officers upon the church 
in an arbitrary way. No, truly ; but they refer the 
election to the multitude of the disciples, and then pro- 
ceed to their ordination. This is the primitive way ; 
and in order to bring the affairs of the poor and disci- 
pline to the right channel, I desire that this congrega- 
tion — I mean such as submit to the laws and ordinan- 
ces of Christ, and have a resolution through grace to 
cleave to him — I desire all such in this congregation to 
meet together on Wednesday next, after sermon, in or- 
der to the regular election of church officers ; and I 
shall endeavour to moderate in the election, and then 
proceed, in conjunction with the lawful Session that is 
in being, towards their ordination." 

The protest against the five Elders was regarded in 
so odious a light by the Commission of the General 
Assembly, that they made it a special article of Libel 
against Mr. Erskine. In the Remarks on the Libel, 
however, it is observed that this reprobated step was 
neither unprecedented, nor inconsistent with the duty 
of a minister, when unjust sentences are passed to the 
detriment of Christ's kingdom, and no probable method 
of redress presents itself. For instances of similar pro- 
ceedings, the Presbytery refer to Mr. Andreic Duncan, 
minister at Crail, and Mr. John Scrimgeor, at King- 
horn, who protested against the sentences of deposi- 
tion and imprisonment pronounced by the High Com- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 413 

mission Court in 1619-20, and summoned its members 
to answer for themselves at the tribunal of the righte- 
ous Judge of all the earth ; — also to Mr. Robert Blair, 
who acted in the same manner towards Eckline, Bishop 
of Bangor, who had ventured to silence him. 

The conduct of the judicatories and of the magis- 
trates in reference to these intruded elders, it is evi- 
dent, was at once arbitrary and injurious ; and even ad- 
mitting that Mr. Erskine's zeal did, in this instance, 
somewhat exceed the bounds of strict propriety, it 
seems clear that decisive measures, calculated to repel 
the aggression and remedy the evil, were indispensably 
necessary. 

When the Assembly deposed the eight seceding mi- 
nisters, it was intended, as we have seen, to deprive 
them of all the temporal emoluments connected with 
their office. Nothing else was expected by these 
Brethren themselves, and they stood prepared for the 
sacrifice. Though it is alleged that, by resolutely 
availing themselves of a certain act of parliament pass- 
ed in the reign of Queen Anne, they might probably 
have retained each of them his church, his manse, and 
his stipend, till the day of his death, they were inclined 
rather to relinquish their civil rights, than to maintain 
them by methods which they regarded as questionable 
or inexpedient. 

In conformity to the final sentence of Assembly pro- 
nounced on the 15th May, 1740, letters of intimation were 
immediately despatched from the Moderator to the pro- 
per civil authorities, that the decision might be forthwith 
carried into effect. In some of the parishes concerned, 
however, the ministers were treated with comparative le- 
nity, and permitted to keep possession of their churches 



414 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



till their followers had time to erect places of worship for 
their accommodation. But no such forbearance was 
exercised at Stirling. The very first Lord's day after the 
sentence of deposition was passed, a party of the ma- 
gistrates of that burgh, eager to evince their devoted- 
ness to the existing powers, thought proper to prohibit 
the ringing of the church-bells, and to make fast the 
doors of the church and church-yard, to prevent ad- 
mission. The people, nevertheless, met at the usual 
hour, intending to break open the doors ; but Mr. Er- 
skine, when he made his appearance, expressed his de- 
cided aversion to methods of violence, and succeeded in 
dissuading them from the attempt. 

In the presence of a vast multitude assembled on this 
interesting occasion, it is said, he lifted up the pulpit 
Bible, which, according to the custom of the times, he 
had brought with him from his house, and in a man- 
ner awfully solemn and impressive, protested as in the 
Divine presence, that he was pursuing the path of du- 
ty, and that not he, but his opposers were responsible 
at the tribunal of God, for the events of that day. Hav- 
ing heard with deep emotion this affecting appeal, the 
people quietly retired to a convenient spot in the open 
air, where he conducted the public services of the Sab- 
bath. 

By this prudent and peaceable conduct he justified 
the character which the magistrates of Stirling them- 
selves had given him seven years before, when, in their 
Representation to the Commission, they affirmed that 
they had found him to be a man of & peaceable disposi- 
tion. We find him, in like manner, breathing the spi- 
rit of peace and forgiveness towards these rulers in the 
conclusion of a sermon preached at the ordination of 
Mr. James Erskine as his assistant and successor, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 415 

twelve years after his ejection from what he calls " the 
legal synagogue and maintenance." Having alluded 
to the harsh treatment given both to Mr. Hamilton and 
himself, he adds : " All that I shall say upon the head 
is, with my royal Master, when they were taking away 
his life, 6 Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do ;' and with the proto-martyr Stephen, when 
they were stoning him to death, and when he was go- 
ing out of time into eternity, e Lord, lay not this sin to 
their charge.' "* 

His dignified and peaceful conduct was the natural 
effect of those divine consolations by which he was sus- 
tained. Amidst afflicting vicissitudes, he improved 
with fresh ardour his access to the throne of grace, and 
availed himself of those never-failing sources of com- 
fort which the Scriptures afford. When forsaken by 
men who had once befriended him, he was cheered by 
his Master's promise, " Lo, I am with you always, 
even to the end of the world." When thrust out from 
a Church to which he was warmly attached, and whose 
prosperity he had laboured to advance, he adored the 
over-ruling providence of his heavenly Father, saying, 
" Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; the re- 
mainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." When called to 
go forth without the camp, and to encounter difficulties 
formerly unknown, he recollected that animating pas- 
sage ; " The Breaker is come up before them ; they 
have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and 
are gone out by it ; and their king shall pass before 
them, and the Lord on the head of them."f 

* Works, vol. ii. pp. 694-5. 

f Ps. lxxvi. 10. Mic. ii. 13, Works, vol. ii. pp. 1, 600. 



416 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



We shall here mention, in the same terms in which 
they are expressly noted by himself in his manuscripts, 
a few more texts from which he delivered practical 
and consolatory sermons, during the course of these 
trying occurrences. 

" I entered on the following text, June 1738, on oc- 
casion of the act of Assembly with relation to the five 
Elders of Stirling : Gal. v. 1. 6 Stand fast, therefore, in 
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be 
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage/ 

" Stirling, Sabbath, May 11, 1740. — The Assembly 
sitting for deposing the Associate Ministers : Psalm 
cxviii. 8. 6 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put 
confidence in man.' 

" May 18, 1740 — being the Sabbath on which I was 
turned out of the church : Matt. viii. 27. 6 But the men 
marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that 
even the winds and the sea obey him !' 

" At the sacrament of Stirling in the fields, being cast 
out of the church by the magistrates of the place, in 
consequence of the sentence of the last Assembly — - 
Sabbath, Oct. 19, 1740 : Col. ii. 10. < And ye are com- 
plete in Him, who is the head of all principality and 
power.' 

" Stirling, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1740 — being the 
same day that two ministers took possession of my pul- 
pit, viz. Messrs. Turner and M i Queen : Psalm cxlix. 2. 
— 6 Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.' " 

Even external circumstances proved, in many re- 
spects, encouraging. Satisfied with regard to the 
soundness of his views, the purity of his motives, and 
the rectitude of his conduct, his people, with compara- 
tively few exceptions, concurred with him in seceding 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 417 

from the established judicatories. For more than 
seventy years after the memorable crisis of 1740, the 
West Church, which had been the scene of his public 
ministrations, remained unoccupied. The late Dr. So- 
merville made the following statement in the year 1793 : 
" Since the deposition of Mr. Erskine, the third charge 
at Stirling has never been filled ; it was allowed to fall 
into disuse by the Presbytery."* The increased po- 
pulation of the town, however, gave occasion to its re- 
vival in the year 1817. 

The numerous congregation which adhered to Mr. 
Erskine proceeded, with all possible expedition, to 
erect for his and their own accommodation, a very spa- 
cious place of worship ; in which, for upwards of twelve 
years, he continued, with delight and with success, to 
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. In addition 
to his old parishioners, many from contiguous parishes 
on all sides, to the distance of ten miles, placed them- 
selves under his ministry; including a considerable 
number of respectable ruling Elders, who, being re- 
ceived into his Session, greatly assisted him in visiting 
the sick, and in watching over the morals of his flock. 
It is scarcely necessary to add that they found no diffi- 
culty in providing for his temporal subsistence; and 
that the loss of his legal stipend was more than com- 
pensated, by remunerations voluntarily and cheerfully 
bestowed by a people deeply grateful for his valuable 
labours in the Gospel. 

Nor were his ministrations confined to his own 
charge. With redoubled activity, he aided his Breth- 



* Stat, Acc. of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 271? &c. 



418 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ren of the Associate Presbytery in administering the 
Lord's Supper to their respective congregations. In 
their zealous exertions, too, for promoting the general 
interest of religion in the land, and for affording relief 
to multitudes groaning under the yoke of ecclesiastical 
tyranny, he willingly contributed his full proportion. 
We find from his Note-books that he preached, and, in 
some instances, conducted the services of a solemn fast, 
at Fenwick, at Airdrie, at Glasgow, at Kilmaronoc, at 
Kilmacolm, at JBalfron, and at Dunse. He preached 
en 1 Cor. iii. 11. at the ordination of Mr. David Smy- 
ton at Kilmaurs, in Nov. 1740 ; and being appointed 
to preside at the admission of Mr. Fisher, his son-in- 
law, at Glasgow, Oct. 8, 1741, he preached a faithful 
and lively sermon from Psalm cxxxii. 17. — <1 have or- 
dained a lamp for mine anointed.' 

The services undertaken by the eight Brethren be- 
yond the boundaries of their own parishes, formed one 
article of the Libel with which they were served, and 
were represented as occasioning the neglect of their 
proper duty at home. " Not confining yourselves to 
your own congregation and particular charges, you 
dispense ordinances to persons of other congregations, 
without the knowledge or consent of the ministers to 
which they belong ; and have taken upon you, in some 
of these congregations, to ordain elders, to appoint and 
keep fasts in different corners of the country ; and by 
these practices your proper ministerial work in your 
own parishes is in a great measure neglected." — In re- 
ply to the last part of this charge, they express them- 
selves in the following terms : " They may be satisfied 
to have their diligence compared, in their ministerial 
work in their own parishes, with that of their keenest 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 419 

accusers ; and they may likewise confidently affirm that, 
notwithstanding of their Presbyterial association, and 
the duty which it does oblige them unto, they are as 
little diverted from their proper ministerial work in 
their respective charges, as when they were in connec- 
tion with the judicatories, and appro ven by them for 
their diligence."* 

Amidst his laborious efforts, both at home and 
abroad, Mr. Erskine was cheered, not only by the 
flourishing condition of his own flock, but by the gene* 
ral prosperity of the Secession cause. He had not in- 
deed the happiness to obtain the co-operation of every 
minister, whom at one time he might have expected to 
join him. In the subsequent history of his seven cleri- 
cal friends, who solemnly protested against the sentence 
of the Commission, Nov. 1733, dissolving the relation 
betwixt the four Brethren and their several charges, 
we may notice the following particulars. Three of 
them, as we have seen, became seceders — Messrs. Ralph 
Erskine and Thomas Mair in February, and Mr. 
Thomas Nairn in September, 1737. Mr. Maclaren, of 
Edinburgh, departed this life in June 1734. Mr. 
Wardlaw, of Dunfermline, survived, we think, till a 
short time after the sentence of deposition was passed 
on his colleague and the other Associate ministers ; but 
died in communion with the national church. Mr. 
Currie, of Kinglassie, became an open and violent an- 
tagonist to the Associate Presbytery, wrote several 
pamphlets against them, and was answered with great 
learning and ability by Mr. William Wilson, of Perth. 



* Re-exhibition, pp. 190, 199. 



420 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Mr. Gabriel Wilson, of Maxton, in fine, who took 
the lead in entering the protest against the deed of the 
Commission, notwithstanding mutual expressions of re- 
gard which afterwards passed between him and the se- 
ceding Brethren, adopted views of church government 
that effectually precluded him from joining their asso- 
ciation, or concurring in their measures. 

The following letter from Mr. Erskine to this excel- 
lent man is entitled to a place here, as a memorial of 
their mutual esteem for each other, as well as a proof 
of the writer's earnest desire to possess his correspond- 
ent's brotherly countenance and co-operation in the 
cause of truth. It is copied from a draught in short- 
hand characters, Note-book 42d. 

" Copy of a Letter to Master Gabriel Wilson, minister 
of Maxton, 

« R. D. B. 

" I had the favour of yours some weeks 
ago, and my heart warmed when I read your name at 
the bottom of it. I have been pained several times since 
I received it, lest my long delay of an answer should 
be thought a want of respect, while it flows only from 
want of time. If you knew my situation here alone, 
where there is work for three or four, I am sure you 
would easily excuse my delay. 

" It very much gladdened my heart to hear of your 
resolution of seeing me in Stirling. I catch hold of 
your word, and urge you to make it good ; for I assure 
you of the kindest welcome, whatever jealousy you may 
have entertained of any estrangement or alienation on 
my side. As I am persuaded I have still an interest in 
your heart, so I can assure you, you have great room 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



421 



in mine, as an intimate Comrade, a great Christian, a 
dear Brother, and an eminent Divine and Minister of 
Christ. I hope not only to be edified by your conver- 
sation , and the thoughts you speak of upon honouring 
our dear Lord, but to be refreshed with your discourses 
in the pulpit of Stirling, where I can promise you a 
numerous and attentive auditory. 

" As for the way I am in of secession from the pre- 
sent judicatories, and, in conjunction with my Breth- 
ren, of endeavouring to witness for the Lord, and to 
feed and relieve his scattered and bleating sheep and 
lambs, I bless the Lord that ever employed my Breth- 
ren and me in this service. And though the archers 
shoot sore at us and grieve our hearts, and Mr. Currie, 
among the keenest, yet, I hope the blessing of the Shep- 
herd of Israel, and of many thousands of his sheep, shall 
compensate all the wounds we receive. And, oh ! how 
would my heart rejoice to see my dear good angel Ga- 
briel coming in to share of these blessings with us. — 
I see by the act of Assembly what we are to expect 
from the hands of men ; but none of these things, I 
hope, shall move me, and I desire not to account my 
life dear, that I may finish my course with joy, and the 
ministry which I have received from the Lord. I am 
here set as a mark. All the world are shooting their 
arrows of reproach at me, and none more than our ma- 
lignant Presbyterians, whose bow Mr. Currie has mend- 
ed, and whose quiver he has filled with arrows ; for 
which I pray, 6 Lord, lay it not to his charge — Father, 
forgive him.' 

" His arguings do not move me, in regard they do 
not hit the question in which I and my Brethren are 
concerned. You see the question in which we are con- 



422 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cerned, stated by Mr. Wilson in his letter to Mr. Wardlaw. 
Mr. Currie, I see, in his reply to Mr. Wilson, drops the 
main cause, and argues only to vindicate his own charac- 
ter, wherein he thinks Mr. Wilson has rubbed upon him. 
I do not enter upon the argument with you, referring 
any thing of that nature until the conversation you have 
given me ground to expect with you here. 

" I am sorry if any thing hinted by Mr. Fisher or 
Mr. Moncrieff has offended you ; and yet more so, if 
there were any just ground for a warning against the 
evil at which they pointed ; I mean independency. I 
always took you for one of the most confirmed Presby- 
terians and assertors of the obligation of our Covenants 
of any in Scotland, and am absolutely averse from re- 
ceiving any report to the contrary, unless I have it from 
your own mouth or pen ; which indeed would give a 
deep w ound to my spirit, and to many others who have 
a great regard for you. The removing of land-marks, 
especially in the kingdom of Christ, and an altering of 
the mould or pins of the tabernacle of David, is exceed- 
ingly dangerous, and is what I persuade myself you 
will never go into, either by word or writ. 

" I hope it will be very agreeable to you and many 
others in your country, that Mr. Hunter is licensed. 
Your character and commendation of him recommend- 
ed him much to me.* — I am, very dear Gabriel, 

Your most affectionate Brother and servant, in 
our dear Lord, Immanuel, 

Ebenezer Erskine. 

* He refers to Mr. John Hunter, a young man of great pro- 
mise, who was the first individual licensed, and the first ordain- 
ed, by the Associate Presbytery. He was licensed at Abernethy, 
May 12, 1738, and ordained at Gateshall, Minister of the United 



THE REV. EBENEZEft ERSKINE. 



423 



" P.S. — I have obeyed your orders as to secrecy. 
None living has seen yours to me ; and I am content 
you do the same with mine. I told some I had one 
from you, and was to write you. What time was be- 
stowed on this was taken off my sleep, being begun 
this day about three in the morning." 

Whatever views the reader may entertain on the dis- 
puted points referred to in this letter, he can scarcely 
fail to regard the letter itself as equally affectionate, 
candid, and faithful. Whether this " good angel, Ga- 
briel," complied with his friend's urgent invitation to 
make him a visit, and to preach to his people at Stir- 
ling, we have not learned ; but it is certain that he de- 
clined connecting himself with the Associate Presby- 
tery. The report of his leaning towards Independency, 
which had reached the members of that Presbytery, was 
found to be true ; for soon after, he formed a small 
church at Maxton on the Independent plan, which met 
on Sabbath evenings — while he regularly preached to 
his parishioners at large, and baptised their children, 
but did not administer to them the Lord's Supper. 
Connived at by the judicatories of the establishment, 
he persisted in this method of exercising his ministry 
till his death, which took place in the beginning of the 
year 1750.* His friend, Mr. Henry Davidson, of Ga- 

Congregations of Morbattle and Stitchell, Oct. 17, 1739. It pleas- 
ed a sovereign providence to remove him by death, the 17th Jan. 
1740 — somewhat less than three months after his ordination. 
See some account of his character subjoined to a sermon preached 
at his settlement by the Rev. Ralph Erskine, in his Works, 
vol. ii. pp. 101-118. 

* Struth. Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. Book viii. 



424 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



lashiels, having embraced the same sentiments, acted a 
similar part, and met with similar indulgence. 

Mr. Erskine sustained another disappointment, when 
the Rev. George Whitefield refused to co-operate 
with him in the manner asked and expected. Having 
received favourable accounts respecting the character 
and doctrine of this celebrated man, and the extraor- 
dinary success of his ministry in England and America, 
he affectionately invited him to make a visit to Scot- 
land, and to unite his efforts with those of the Associate 
Presbytery in promoting the interests of truth and god- 
liness. A letter from Mr. Erskine to Mr. Whitefield, 
a short-hand copy of which we have discovered in his 
38th Note-book, throws some light on the views and 
motives which influenced him and his Brethren in giv- 
ing him that invitation. Several expressions are ille- 
gible. We give the following extracts : 

" Hilldown, near Dunbar, June 1741. 

" Rev. and very dear Brother. 

" I inclined much to have w^ritten you as 
soon as I heard of your return to England ; but I was 
at a loss for want of a direction, till I received yours 
from Bristol of the 16th of May, which was very ac- 
ceptable. Though I have not yet seen your last Jour- 
nal, yet I have heard of it, and of the great things God 
has done for you and by you in the American world, 
and at home also, in this island of the sea ; which brings 
that doxology to mind — ' Thanks be unto God, who al- 
ways causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh ma- 
nifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place/ 
May you be enabled more and more to be joyful in his 
salvation, and in the name of your God to set up your 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 425 

banner. The banner which God has given you to dis- 
play, because of truth, is far more glorious than that of 
[Admiral] Vernon. But I know that you are dis- 
posed to say, < Not I, but the grace of God in me ;' 
* Not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory.' 

" How desirable would it be to all the sincere lovers 
of Jesus Christ in Scotland, to see him 6 travelling in 
the greatness of his strength' among us also in your mi- 
nistrations ! Truth falls in our streets. Equity can- 
not enter into our ecclesiastical courts. As our As- 
semby did last year eject us from our churches, and ex- 
clude us from our ministry and legal maintenance, for 
lifting up our reformation testimony, so all I can hear 
they have done this year, May last, is to appoint seve- 
ral violent intrusions to be made upon Christian con- 
gregations ; whereby the flock of Christ is scattered 
more and more upon the mountains ; for a stranger will 
they not follow, who know the shepherd's voice. The 
wandering sheep come with their bleatings to the As- 
sociate Presbytery ; whereby our work is daily increas- 
ing, in feeding and rallying our Master's flock, scattered 
and offended by the Established Church. 

66 From this short glimpse of the state of matters among 
us, you will easily see what reason the Associate Pres- 
bytery have to say, Come over to Scotland and help 
us, Come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty ; 
for the enemy comes in like a flood, but I hope the Spi- 
rit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. We 
hear that God is with you of a truth, and therefore we 
wish for as intimate a connexion with you in the Lord 
as possible, for building up the fallen tabernacle of Da- 
vid in Britain ; and particularly in Scotland, when you 
shall be sent to us. This, dear Brother, and no party 



426 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



views, is at the bottom of any proposal made by my 
brother Ralph in his own name, and in the name of his 
Associate Brethren. It would be very unreasonable to 
propose or urge that you should incorporate as a mem- 
ber of our Presbytery, and wholly embark in every 
branch of our reformation, unless the Father of lights 
were clearing your way thereunto ; which we pray he 
may enlighten in his time, so as you and we may see 
eye to eye. All intended by us at present is, that, 
when you come to Scotland, your way may be such as 
not to strengthen the hands of our corrupt clergy and 
judicatories, who are carrying on a course of defection, 
worming out a faithful ministry from the land, and the 
power of religion with it. . . . Far be it from us 
to limit your great Master's commission to preach the 
gospel to every creature. We ourselves preach the 
gospel to all promiscuously who are willing to hear us. 
But we preach not upon the call and invitation of the 
ministers, but of the people, which, I suppose, is your 
own practice now in England ; and should this also be 
your way when you come to Scotland, it could do the 
Associate Presbytery no manner of harm. But if, be- 
sides, you could find freedom to company with us, to 
preach with us and for us, and to accept of our advices 
in your work while in this country, it might contribute 
much to weaken the enemy's hand, and to strengthen 
our's in the work of the Lord, when the strength of the 
battle is against us. 

" These things I only propose with all submission. 
The Lord himself, I pray and hope, will direct you to 
such a course and conduct as shall be for his own glory 
and the edification of his Church every where, and par- 
ticularly among us in Scotland. We in this country 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 427 



are generally a lifeless, lukewarm, and upsitten gene- 
ration. What a blessing would it be to us, if your vi- 
sit should be attended with such fruits and effects as at 
Boston ; an account of which I have read in your last 
to my brother Ralph — which yields great matter of 
thanksgiving. 

" I am truly sorry for the Wesley ans — to see them 
so far left to themselves. I have seen your letter to 
them, and praise the Lord on your behalf, who enables 
you to stand up so valiantly for the truth, and with so 
much light and energy. May his truth be more and 
more your shield and buckler. 

" I am, Your unworthy and affectionate Brother, 
" Ebenezer Erskine." 

Mr Whitefield's letter from Bristol*", referred to at 
the beginning of this epistle, shows that Mr. Erskine's 
cordial esteem was, on his part, warmly reciprocated. 
Yet in that and other communications, while he assured 
the members of the Associate Presbytery of his parti- 
cular respect, and told them " that he was more of 
their mind as to many things than they were perhaps 
aware of ;" he candidly stated, that, as to church go- 
vernment, he intended to be " quite neuter," and " came 
simply to preach the Gospel, and not to enter into any 
particular connection whatever." When he accom- 
plished his intended visit to Scotland in 1741, he and 
the Seceding Brethren soon found that their sentiments 
on several points were too discordant to admit of the 
co-operation proposed. The circumstances of their 

* This letter may be seen in the Collection of Mr. White- 
field's Letters, vol. i. No. 280. 



428 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



parting, the plan of operation which Mr Whitefield 
adopted, the countenance given him by the orthodox 
clergy of the Establishment, the extraordinary appear- 
ances known by the name of the Cambuslang Work, 
the opposite views that were held of that apparent re- 
vival, the mutual recriminations it gave rise to between 
the church-men and the Seceders — these are points of 
which it is not our intention to attempt even an out- 
line*. 

" The differences of good men," as Erasmus Mid- 
dleton remarks, when alluding to this very subject, 
" are never to be mentioned but with sorrow^ Mr. 
Whitefield himself has the following expressions in a 
short but very kind and respectful letter to Mr. Eben- 
ezer Erskine, bearing date June 10, 1742. " It is 
some concern to me that our differences as to outward 
things should cut off our sweet fellowship and com- 
munion with each other. God knows my heart, I 
highly value and honour you. ... I could drop 
a tear. Oh ! when shall the time come, when the 
watchmen shall see eye to eye. Hasten that time, our 
Lord, and our God^:." Candour requires us frankly to 
acknowledge, that, whatever provocation was given to 
the ministers of the Secession, and whatever irregula- 
rities deserving reprehension had been committed by 
their ecclesiastical opponents, they expressed them- 
selves in their public deeds, and some of them in their 
sermons and writings, in terms of unqualified severity 

* What occurred between Mr. Whitefield and the Associate 
Presbytery, in their interview at Dunfermline, will fall to be no- 
ticed in a Life of Mr. Ralph Erskine. 

f Evang. Biog. vol. iv. Acc. of Mr. R. Erskine, pp. 280-2. 

i Collect, vol. i. Let. 425. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



429 



respecting Mr. WhitefielcTs ministry, and those minis- 
ters and people by whom he was countenanced, which 
Seceders have, for a long time past, almost universally 
regarded with feelings of sincere regret. 

It is worth while, however, as some have sug- 
gested, to inquire into the accuracy of a sweeping pre- 
diction delivered by Mr. Whitefield with oracular so- 
lemnity ; " that the Associate Presbytery were build- 
ing a Babel, and that he believed it would soon tumble 
down about their ears." The edifice commenced by 
that Presbytery, has now lasted for almost a century ; 
and no candid observer of its appearance, extent, and 
apparent stability, can conclude, either that its founders 
were such unskilful builders, or that their enterprize 
was so obnoxious to the frowns of heaven, as that good 
man was pleased to imagine. However great the faults 
and mistakes which have attached to Seceders them- 
selves in their individual and collective capacities, and 
however virulent the reproaches and powerful the op- 
position they have met with from adversaries, the Se- 
cession Church has become a fair, strong, and exten- 
sive fabric — in no great danger, so far as human pro- 
bability can determine, of soon tumbling into ruins. To 
change the figure ; this vine, though once feeble and 
despised, has taken deep root, and filled the land ; its 
boughs are sent forth on every side ; the hills are co- 
vered with its shadow, and the vallies refreshed with 
its fruit. Metaphorical language apart ; the Secession 
has, by the blessing of God, been subservient, in an 
eminent degree, to the interests of religious liberty, 
evangelical truth, and vital godliness. In addition to 
the good which it is directly the means of achieving, it 



430 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



has without doubt been indirectly beneficial, to a great 
extent, in checking the progress of defection, and in 
" provoking to jealousy" those who have remained with- 
in the pale of the national establishment. A consider- 
vable number of its ministers have given satisfactory evi- 
dence, as well of learning and ability, as of piety, pru- 
dence, and pastoral fidelity. Some of them have at- 
tained distinguished eminence in the pulpit, whilst others 
have sent from the press very valuable works on theo- 
logy, and other departments of knowledge. Passing 
over the useful writings of the first founders of the Se- 
cession, as well as the productions of its living minis- 
ters, some of whom have acquired great celebrity, we 
might refer to the publications of the Rev. John Brown 
of Haddington, William M'Ewen, Archibald Hall, 
George Jerment, Dr. George Lawson, and others ; se- 
veral of which, at least, have been long known and va- 
lued among Christians of almost every persuasion. The 
people, too, in communion with the Secession Church, 
form a very considerable proportion, if not of the most 
opulent, yet of the most intelligent, industrious, and vir- 
tuous part of the community. The congregations under 
the inspection of the United Associate Synod amount 
to upwards of three hundred and thirty. Nor must we 
overlook the other respectable, though minor branches 
of the Secession in Scotland ; or the sister churches in 
Ireland, and different parts of America, whose exer- 
tions for the preservation and diffusion of the true Chris- 
tian doctrine have been of great importance and uti- 
lity. 



Even at the commencement of the Secession, there 
were many auspicious omens of its future success. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 431 

While the Associate Presbytery was honoured with 
numerous applications for a pure dispensation of the 
Gospel from all quarters of the country, Divine Provi- 
dence enabled them, to a considerable extent, to meet 
these demands. In November 1736, they entrusted to 
one of their number, the Rev. William Wilson of Perth, 
the momentous charge of teaching Theology to Can- 
didates for the sacred office. Mr. Wilson entered on 
the work the following spring. The number of his stu- 
dents was encouraging. In the year 1741 they were 
more numerous than those who attended the Professors 
of Theology in any of the Scotish Universities, with 
the exception of Edinburgh*. In the course of that 
year nine of them were licensed to preach the Gospel ; 
and before the close of 1742, the Presbytery consisted 
of twenty ministers, including twelve who had received 
ordination from them within about two years preced- 
ing, with the Rev. Andrew Arrot, minister of the 
parish of Dunnicken, Angusshire, who acceded to them 
in October 1742 ; and not including Mr. Wilson, who 
died before the conclusion of 1741. On the 11th Oc- 
tober 1744, a new arrangement was adopted, by which 
the Associate Presbytery became a Synod, consisting 
of three Presbyteries almost equal in numbers, — the 
Presbyteries of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dunferm- 
line. The first meeting of the Associate Synod was 
held at Stirling on the first Tuesday of March 1745; 
at which period it had under its inspection about thirty 
settled congregations, and sixteen vacancies in Scot- 

* This is affirmed by Mr. Ralph Erskine, in a Letter to Mr. 
Whitefield, dated April 10, 1741. 



432 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



land, besides several congregations in Ireland. Mr. 
Erskine, in short, found abundant matter of satisfaction 
and gratitude in the early progress of the cause in which 
he had taken so deep an interest, and acted so promi- 
nent a part. In defiance of all the measures employed 
to crush it in the bud, its success was rapid and exten- 
sive. Multitudes availed themselves of the relief which 
it afforded from the galling yoke of patronage, and list- 
ened to the pure doctrines of the cross, with every ap- 
pearance of serious attention and spiritual benefit. In 
most of the principal towns in the Lowlands of Scot- 
land, as well as in several less populous places, evan- 
gelical pastors were settled, whose labours eminently 
tended to promote the best interests of their hearers. 

With a view to unite the friends of truth, and to 
strengthen their hands in the work of reformation, the 
Associate Presbytery thought proper to revive the prac- 
tice of Public Covenanting. A great veneration for 
the National Covenants had generally prevailed among 
the religious Presbyterians of Scotland, both clergy and 
laity. They were accustomed to recognize their last- 
ing obligation, to regard the contempt with which they 
had been treated during the unhappy reigns of the two 
Brothers as a heinous provocation to God, and to la- 
ment all the sins of the nation as receiving a deeper 
dye, from the circumstance that they were a violation 
of the public vows resting on Scotland as a covenanted 
land. Among the prevailing sins enumerated and de- 
plored in a " Testimony" emitted soon after the com- 
mencement of the Secession, by a number of Ministers 
of the Established Church, express notice is taken of 



THE KEV. EBENEZER ERSfclNE. 433 



" denying the lawfulness or obligation of our national 
Covenant engagements."* It is not wonderful, there- 
fore, that it early occurred to the seceding clergy, in 
the novel circumstances in which they were placed, 
that an attempt to restore the observance of covenant- 
ing would be proper and seasonable. A draught of 
an Act respecting this measure, which had been deli- 
berately prepared by a Committee of Presbytery, was 
laid on their table at Edinburgh in October 1741, at 
the same meeting at which the valuable Act respecting 
the Doctrine of Grace was passed. It was entitled 
" The Overture of an Act of the Associate Presbytery 
for renewing the National Covenant of Scotland, and 
the Solemn League and Covenant of the three nations, 
in a way and manner agreeable to our present situation 
and circumstances in this period." This overture, af- 
ter having been read and corrected, was approved of 
by all the members present, with the exception of Mr. 
Nairn ; who, having embraced the principles of the Old 
Dissenters with regard to the existing civil government, 
ultimately withdrew from the Associate Presbytery, 
and, in August 1743, joined Mr. John M'Millan in 
forming an ecclesiastical court, entitled The Reformed 

* This Testimony is entitled " A Fair and Impartial Testi- 
mony, essayed in name of a number of Ministers, Elders, ar d 
Christian people of the Church of Scotland, unto the laudable 
principles, wrestlings, and attainments of that Church, and 
against the backslidings, corruptions, divisions, and prevailing 
evils, both of former and present times.' ' It was composed chief- 
ly by the Rev. John Willison, of Dundee, author of the Sacra- 
mental Directory, and other practical Works. See some account 
of its occasion and contents in Struth. Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. 
pp. 98-111. 

V 



434 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Presbytery. After various subsequent meetings, and 
after further amendments of the proposed act for reno- 
vation of the Covenants ; it was finally adopted by the 
Presbytery at Stirling, Dee. 23, 1743. They agreed 
also to proceed without delay to this solemn service, 
the ministers only taking part in the work at the first, 
and giving an example to the people, which they were 
expected in due time to follow. Accordingly, on the 
28th of the same month, which was observed as a day 
of public fasting by the congregation of Stirling, all the 
ministers present, to the number of fifteen, united in 
the acknowledgment of sins and engagement to duties, 
and subscribed the engagement or bond, in the pre- 
sence of a numerous assembly. On the 14th of March 
ensuing, four ministers who were not present at Stir- 
ling, and one subsequently ordained, joined in the same 
exercise at Falkirk.* 

That these proceedings met the approbation of the 
subject of this memoir, cannot admit of a doubt. To 
diffuse information on the topic, he had been at the 
trouble to collect and publish what he esteemed the 
best discourses on the nature and obligation of the Co- 
venants.f From the circumstance of the work com- 
mencing at Stirling, as well as from the tenor of the 
sermon he preached on that occasion, it is manifest that 
he cordially approved of the measure. In the Preface 
to the sermon he observes, that it appeared to him 
there was " somewhat remarkable in the place of the 
begun resurrection of the covenants, namely, in the 
town of Stirling, where that faithful witness, Mr. James 

« Gibb's Display, vol. i. pp. 251, 252. 
•f Christian Monitor, vol. i. p. 68. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 435 



Guthrie, minister of the place, was stoned, and other- 
wise maltreated and abused by a malignant party, for 
his faithful adherence to the covenanted reformation, 
and who also suffered martyrdom in the same cause in 
the Grass-market of Edinburgh."* 

Whilst biographical fidelity required that this solemn 
transaction should not be passed over in silence, it is 
not the writer's intention, either to vindicate or to dis- 
cuss its propriety. Human nature is prone to extremes. 
The warmest admirers of the first ministers of the Se- 
cession will admit that, in some instances, their zeal 
was carried to excess. Few, if any, will now justify 
that act of the Associate Presbytery, passed at Edin- 
burgh, Feb. 14, 1744, by which the swearing of the 
Covenant-bond, which they had prepared, was consti- 
tuted a term of Ministerial and Christian communion. 
" Not a few of the seceding ministers," says a conscien- 
tious writer, well versed in their history, " were after- 
wards sensible of the sinfulness of this act.; nor do I 
know that ever the most zealous for covenanting acted 
up to the tenor of it."f At the distance of thirty years 
from the date of the act, it is affirmed by the Rev. 
Adam Gibb, that " so far as he knows, or can remem- 
ber, there has been no instance of any of the people 
being kept back from sealing ordinances for not join- 
ing in covenanting work — but they have always been 
waited for till willingly offering themselves"^. The act 
itself, it is proper to state, enjoined the exercise of 
H much tenderness and lenity towards the weakest of 



* Works of Rev. E. Erskine, vol. ii. p. 316. 

■j- Brown's Histor. Acc. of the Secession, pp. 58, 59. 

$ Display of the Secession Testimony, vol. i. p. 253, 



436 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the flock, that they may not be, at first instance, se- 
cluded from sealing ordinances." 

There is reason to believe that Mr. Erskine, among 
others, lived to regret the strictness with which coven- 
anting was required, or to say the least, the eagerness 
with which it was inculcated on the members of the Se- 
cession Church. Nor are we to imagine that he and 
his Brethren, though heartily attached to the doctrines 
of the Reformation, and to the Presbyterian govern- 
ment and discipline, did at any time approve of every 
public measure pursued by the original covenanters. 
Whatever specious pretext their renovation of the Co- 
venants may have afforded for the charge of maintaining 
the propriety of coercive measures in religion, it ap- 
pears that, instead of holding any such principle, they 
were prepared to vindicate the sacred rights of con- 
science in opposition to intolerance. " I have some- 
times thought," says Ebenezer, when referring to the 
covenants, in a letter addressed to a gentleman, and af- 
terwards published by Mr. Wilson with Mr. Erskine's 
consent, — " the civil constitution was too much blend- 
ed with the affairs of Christ's kingdom in their public 
engagements ; as also that the way of forcing people 
was not the way to make proselytes unto Christ, the 
weapons of whose kingdom are not carnal but spiritual, 
suited unto the soul and spirit, where his kingdom is 
principally established." To the same purpose we read 
in the Judicial Testimony enacted by the Associate 
Presbytery, as has been mentioned, so early as Decem- 
ber 1736 : It must be acknowledged that the enforcing 
of religious duties with civil penalties, and in too many 
instances blending the affairs of Church and State with 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



437 



one another, is totally inconsistent with the spiritual na- 
ture of Christ's kingdom."* We shall only add, on this 
subject, the following quotation from " Answers to Mr. 
Nairn's Reasons of Dissent" from an act passed by 
that Presbytery in the year 1742 : — " The public good 
of outward and common order, in all reasonable so- 
ciety, unto the glory of God, is the great and only end 
which those invested with magistracy can propose ; in 
a sole respect unto that office. And as, in prosecuting 
this end civilly, according to their office, it is only over 
men's good and evil works that they can have any in- 
spection ; so it is only over these which they must 
needs take cognizance of, for the said public good : 
While, at the same time, their doing so must be in such 
a manner, and proceed so far allenarly, as is requisite 
for that end ; without assuming any lordship immedi- 
ately over men's consciences, or making any encroach- 
ment on the special privileges and business of the 
church."f 

In the year 1745, when a second daring and unnatural 
Rebellion assaulted the British throne, Mr. Erskine, 
though now a seceder from the judicatories of the Esta- 
blished Church, discovered the same ardent loyalty and 
manly intrepidity which he had shown in 1715, when mi- 
nister of the parish of Portmoak. Attached from principle 
to the House of Hanover, he strenuously exhorted his 
hearers and fellow- citizens to co-operate with the loyal 
part of the nation in resisting the bold attempt of 
Charles to recover his grandfather's crown. Owing in 

* Re-exhibition, p. 90. 

*j- Gibb's Display, vol. L p. 311. 



438 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



a great degree to the influence of this popular minister, 
a regiment of volunteers, consisting of 600 men, was 
formed of the inhabitants of Stirling, furnished with 
arms and ammunition from the castle, and determined 
to hazard their lives in defence of the place. About 
thirty years ago, a respectable native of Stirling thus 
related the matter to a friend : 

u The zeal and unanimity of the townsmen at that 
time were wonderful. The old inhabitants still talk of 
it with peculiar delight. Their religion, their families, 
their friends, their rights and dearest interests, were in 
the utmost hazard. These considerations conspired to 
animate them with the most enthusiastic ardour, and to 
make them encounter any fatigue and labour with the 
most indefatigable patience. But what of all circum- 
stances tended in a strong degree to promote their zeal, 
and encourage them in the defence of the place, was 
the activity of the magistrates and clergymen, parti- 
cularly of Provost Christie, and Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, 
who was animated with the highest attachment to the 
constitution, and resolutely bent for defence."* 

Roused by the importance of the cause, Mr. Erskine, 
it is said, even carried arms himself, and was appointed 
Captain of a band of volunteers. One night, when the 
rebels were expected to make an attack on the town, 
he presented himself in the guard-room, fully accoutred 
in the military garb of the times. Dr. John Anderson, 
late Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University 
of Glasgow, and Mr. John Burns, teacher, father of the 
Rev. Dr. Burns, Barony parish in that city, happened 

* Extract of a Letter from a Mr. Hervey to the author of the 
Portmoak MS. inserted in that manuscript. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



439 



to be on guard the same night ; and surprised to see 
the venerable clergyman in this attire, recommended 
to him to go home to his prayers, as more suitable to 
his vocation. " I am determined,'* was his reply, " to 
take the hazard of the night along with you ; for the 
present crisis requires the arms as well as the prayers 
of all good subjects." He remained with them, accord- 
ingly, all that night ; but no formal attack was then 
made.* 

Some idea of the high estimation in which the loyalty 
and the influence of Mr. Erskine were held during that 
critical period, may be formed from the following let- 
ters. The first we insert is one he had the honour to 
receive from William, Marquis of Lothian— the 
same nobleman who, for seven years successively — 
from 1732 to 1738— held the office of his Majesty's 
Commissioner to the General Assembly. It is tran- 
scribed verbatim from the original, which we have had 
the satisfaction to see. 

" London, January 25, 1745-6. 

« Rev. Sir, 

" Being informed that many of his Ma- 
jesty's well-affected subjects, (with whom you have 
great interest) zealous for the defence of our present 
happy government and invaluable interests, now at- 
tacked by France, Spain, the Pope, and a Popish Pre- 
tender, have offered to take arms and serve the king, 
upon condition of being allowed to choose their own 
officers ; I therefore take the liberty to offer my son, 

* This anecdote is confirmed by the authority of Dr. Burns, 
and of another gentleman acquainted with the late Prof. An- 
derson. 



440 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Lord Robert Kerr, who is ambitious to serve as their 
Colonel, if they do him and my family the honour to 
prefer him. It would not be decent for me to give his 
character, but am persuaded he would behave and act 
so as to gain their good opinion. I beg to obtain your 
forgiveness for this trouble, and to be esteemed, Sir, 
Your most obedient and most humble servant, 

LOTHIAX." 

" The Duke is soon to be with you, and it will be 
very proper that you address him ; for which end, my 
son, if you desire, shall attend you." 

To this letter Mr. Erskine returned an appropriate 
and respectful answer, which we copy from his own 
scroll in short-hand characters, written on the same 
sheet with that from the Marquis : 

« Stirling, Feb. 8, 1746." 

"My Lord, 

" I had the honour of your Lordship's 
[letter] of the 25th of January, Sabbath last, when I 
returned from my exile through the Highland [bands] 
which had infested this place for about twenty days. 
Thanks be to God, who made the very name and arms 
of his Royal Highness, the Duke of Cumberland, such 
a. terror to them, that they left the place with such pre- 
cipitance, that as they blew up their magazine in the 
church of St. Ninians, lest it should fall into the hands 
of our army, so they left a great deal of their baggage 
for them. I had wrote your Lordship sooner, had it 
not been for that confusion the place was in for some 
days, while the Duke and his army were passing. 

"In consequence of your Lordship's letter, I did 
myself the honour of waiting upon your son, Lord 
Robert, on Monday last, when lie was in this place with 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 441 

the army, and told him of what motion was made to me 
both by your Lordship and my Lady Marchioness. 
He told me he had some knowledge of that affair ; but 
in regard of the sudden flight of the enemy, and that 
there was now a great probability that the rebellion 
might be extinguished by the regular troops under the 
command of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumber- 
land, he did not think there would be any occasion for 
the Seceders to regiment themselves at present. How- 
ever, as I told himself, if there were any occasion for 
the Seceders to appear in arms in defence of his Ma- 
jesty's person, and government, and family, and the li- 
berties we enjoy under his protection, I know of none 
that would be more acceptable to them as a leader or 
Colonel than Lord Robert, both upon account of his 
own presumptive merit, of which I had good informa- 
tion from General Blakeney and others, as also on ac- 
count of that noble family of Lothian he is come of; 
which hath both formerly and of late made such appear- 
ances for the Protestant interest and our reformation- 
work in Scotland. And in this your noble family, and 
we who are Seceders from the established Church do 
happily agree ; for our secession from the present Ju- 
dicatories goes purely and only upon this very ground, 
that we think they have, in many particulars, departed 
from the covenanted doctrine, discipline, and govern- 
ment of the Reformation Church of Scotland. I am, 
. My Lord, your Lordship's most humble 

and most obedient Servant, 

Ebenezer Erskine." 

Mr. Erskine, it will be observed, alludes to the Mar- 
chioness of Lothian as having made the same proposal 



442 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to him with her honoured husband. Though we have 
not been able to find either the original or a copy of 
the letter he received from her Ladyship, we have been 
favoured with a sight of a first draught, written by him 
in common hand, of the answer he returned to the 
Marchioness ; of which the following is a copy. It is 
without date, but appears to have been written previous 
to the Letter he addressed to his Lordship. 
" Madam, 

" I had the honour of your Ladyship's let- 
ter on Saturday last. I am glad the Seceders have 
hitherto [so] acquitted themselves in behalf of the 
Protestant cause in opposition to the Rebellion against 
our sovereign King George, as to deserve so great 
compliments as your Ladyship is pleased to bestow 
upon them. 

" As to the motion made by your Ladyship of levy- 
ing a regiment of militia among the Seceders under the 
command of your son Lord Robert, I make no doubt 
but if his standard were set up and intimated to them, 
they would be so fond of such an honourable leader as 
to flock to him in great numbers, both from this [part 
of the] country and elsewhere, providing their service 
might be accepted upon the following terms, viz.— that 
they have the choice of their own officers under him ; — 
that in case a Regiment is made up, they have a Mi- 
nister of their own choosing, to dispense the ordinances 
of the Gospel among them ; — that they be provided of 
arms, money, and ammunition according to act of Par- 
liament, and be dismissed at the end of six months, or 
when the Rebellion shall be suppressed ; — and that 
they be excused from the usual oath taken by the mi- 
litary : All which I make no doubt your Ladyship, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSRINE. 



443 



with the Marquis and your son, will judge to be just 
and reasonable. 

" If your Ladyship's motion had been made to me 
while I was in the free exercise of my ministry in Stir- 
ling, and correspondence [was] open with my breth- 
ren, I could [have] been much more serviceable to 
promote the design. But ever since the town of Stir- 
ling was surrendered unto the Rebels, I have been in a 
state of exile, having narrowly escaped their merciless 
hands, being very active in levying some companies in 
order to defend the town of Stirling against them. 
However, I shall, through Divine assistance, exert my- 
self so far as my present situation will admit, in carry- 
ing on the above design. I am at present on the north 
side of the Forth near Alloa, and have pitched upon 
the bearer Duncan Black, one of the Seceders in that 
place, a very active young man, and of an extensive 
acquaintance with the Seceders both on this and the 
other side of the river, himself being frank for the ser- 
vice ; that he may converse with your Ladyship, the 
Marquis, and your son, upon this subject, and receive 
their orders. 

" That grace, mercy, and peace, may be multiplied 
to your Ladyship and the honourable family, shall be 
the constant prayer of, Madam, 
Your Ladyship's 
Most humble and obedient Servant in the Lord." 

" P. S. — I apprehend it might contribute much to 
further the design, if your Ladyship would be pleased 
to write to the same effect to the seceding Ministers in 
your country, as also to Mr. Fisher in Glasgow, to be 
communicated to his brethren of that Presbytery." 



444 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



To these interesting documents we may add a letter 
of thanks for his services, addressed to Mr. Erskine by 
command of the Duke of Cumberland. It is copied 
from the original, which, as well as the preceding, was 
lent us by a friend. 

" To the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, 
Minister of the Gospel at Stirling. 

Falkirh, Feb. 1, 1745-6. 

" Sir, 

" His Royal Highness has ordered me to tell 
you, that he is much obliged to you for your intelli- 
gence, and for the zeal you show in his Majesty's ser- 
vice. With regard to the information contained in 
your letter, our advices since received make it unne- 
cessary to do any thing upon it. But his Royal High- 
ness is not the less sensible of your good intention. I 
am, Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 

H. Conway, Aide-de- Camp to H. R. H." 

Mr. Erskine, in the above letters to the Marquis 
and Marchioness of Lothian, refers to a temporary 
exile he was compelled to undergo. The Highland 
army, consisting of 4000 men, having got possession 
of the town, though not of the castle of Stirling, he 
found it expedient to withdraw for a time. Being ex- 
ceedingly obnoxious to them for the zeal and activity 
he had discovered in opposing their cause, and deter- 
mined to avoid every appearance of submission, he re- 
sided for several weeks at the distance of a few miles 
from the place, and preached on Sabbath to his people 
in the wood of Tillibody ; while the friends of the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



445 



Pretender, resenting his distinguished loyalty, made 
use of his capacious church as a magazine for warlike 
stores. 

His discourses at this trying juncture were happily 
adapted to the existing aspect of providence. He di- 
rected the attention of his hearers, for example, to the 
illustrious character and bloodless conquests of the 
Prince of peace, in a series of sermons from Rev. vi. 2. 
" And I saw and behold ! a white horse ; and he that 
sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him ; 
and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.'' Nor 
did he neglect to embrace every proper opportunity, 
both in the pulpit and elsewhere, of reminding his 
countrymen, that they ought not to rely on human 
means of defence, however proper and necessary in 
their own place, but to repose their confidence in the 
Lord of hosts. The following anecdote, which is re- 
lated on good authority, will serve to illustrate his at- 
tention to this part of his duty. 

About the commencement of the rebellion, he had 
frequent interviews with that celebrated Christian hero, 
Colonel Gardiner. One day the Colonel accom- 
panied Mr. Erskine to a meeting of the gentlemen of 
the town ; and when endeavouring to inspire the com- 
pany with the same ardour of patriotic heroism which 
glowed in his own bosom, he proceeded to state the 
deficiencies of the enemy's force in arms, in numbers, 
and in military talents ; and affirmed that, were he at 
the head of a certain regiment which he once had the 
honour to command, he would not be afraid to en- 
counter their whole army. Mr. Erskine standing by 
him, and marking his expressions, tapped him gently 
on the shoulder, and thus whispered in his ear, " Colo- 



446 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



nel, say, under God.'' That great man, whose piety 
was equal to his courage, replied, smiling, " O yes, 
Mr. Erskine, I mean that, and having God for our 
general, we must be conquerors." 

In concluding our notices of this minister's laudable 
conduct in that season of trial, we must not omit to 
state, that the ardent loyalty displayed by Mr. Erskine 
and his Associate Congregation, characterized the 
whole body of the Seceding clergy and their people, 
without a single exception. " Though the Seceders," 
says one of their number, who honourably shared in 
the perils of the day,* " were spread through all the 
Lowlands of Scotland, from Dunkeld to Cheviot, and 
from St. Andrews to Air, and in the counties of Angus, 
Mearns, Banff, Elgin, Nairn, and Ross ; yet not one 
of them in all Scotland, even in places w here the rebels 
had the greatest power and influence, could ever be 
got to join, or show any favour to the design of that 
party." Their hearts and their hands were universally 
in favour of the Protestant succession in the House of 
Hanover. In several districts their loyalty subjected 
them to a variety of hardships and losses. Not a few 
of them hazarded their lives, and some of them died, 
in the cause. All united in public prayer and fasting 
appointed by the Associate Synod for the suppression 
of " an unnatural and Antichristian Rebellion ;" and at 
considerable risk in many instances, express supplica- 
tions were presented in behalf of King George II. and 
his government. 

Scarcely was this rebellion quelled, and internal 

* The Rev. Adam Gibb, Edinburgh. See his Display of the 
Secession Testimony, vol. ii. pp. 248-50. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 447 



tranquillity restored to the country, when a most de- 
plorable event occurred in the Secession Church. A 
difference of sentiment unhappily arose among its mi- 
nisters with regard to the religious clause in the Bur- 
gess Oath, then required in several cities and towns 
of Scotland ; and " so sharp was the contention" which 
ensued, that in the month of April 1747, an entire se- 
paration took place between the opposing parties. It 
is not our purpose to detail the particulars of this me- 
morable rupture, or to institute any inquiry either re- 
specting the question at issue, or the comparative 
merits of the parties, with reference to the perspicacity 
of intellect and the regard to order and justice they 
respectively discovered. It is proper, however to state, 
that the minister whose life is now presented to the 
reader's attention, was one of them who considered the 
swearing of the Burgess oath, containing the religious 
clause in question, as not at all inconsistent with the 
profession and circumstances of a Seceder, and who 
consequently urged the exercise of mutual forbear- 
ance ; and that, amid the grief and vexation which he 
felt during the agitation of the controversy, and under 
its bitterest results, he manifested, on the whole, his 
usual meekness, combined with decision. As an indi- 
vidual, he published nothing on the subject except a 
short pamphlet, consisting of sixteen pages, and written 
with admirable temper. The dispassionate manner in 
which, during the heat of the contest, he here treats the 
disputed point, does him great credit. That small pub- 
lication appeared to him sufficient to place the matter 
in a clear light, and to satisfy the candid inquirer.* 

* The title of this pamphlet is " The True State of the Ques- 
tion, on which a Breach followed in the Assoc. Syn. at Edin- 



448 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



To be forsaken and disowned by those with whom 
he had "taken sweet counsel," and who had recognised 
him as a father and a guide, was no doubt exceedingly- 
distressing to his tender and affectionate heart. Even 
his son-in-law, the Rev. James Scott of Gateshall, 
decidedly took his ground with those whose views were 
contrary to his. It could not be without much an- 
guish of spirit that, in a letter before us addressed to 
his daughter Mrs. Scott, dated "Stirling, May 22, 
1750," he expressed himself in the following terms : — 
" I would be glad to see you here, at our sacrament the 
2nd Sabbath and 11th day of June; and I am sorry I 
cannot invite your husband to come along with you. 
- - - I have had many an anxious thought about your 
difficult situation, but rejoice to hear of your decent 
and Christian behaviour therein. The Lord knows 
how and when to deliver you." 

burgh 9th April, 1747." Those who wish to know the par- 
ticulars of this unhappy controversy, may consult on the one 
side the various pamphlets referred to in the Re-exhibition, 
p. 263 ; and on the other, Mr. Gibb's Display, vol. ii. pp. 13- 
111 ; and Strutkers' History of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 549-564. 
Though we have often referred with approbation to this last 
work, and though the ability and research which the writer has 
generally discovered, command our sincere esteem, we cannot 
acquit him of mistake and partiality, however unintentional, on 
the subject now alluded to, as well as on some later differences 
which have occurred among Seceders. It is only the love of 
peace, and an extreme unwillingness to do any thing that could 
possibly tend to rekindle the expiring embers of strife, that pre- 
vents us from expressly correcting a number of statements made 
by that respectaWe author on the Breach 1747 ; which, in our 
apprehension, (while we lay no claim to absolute exemption from 
prejudice and prepossession,) exhibit a remarkable instance of 
special pleading. 



THE REV. EBEXEZER ERSKINE. 



449 



Some time after the breach, he received a letter from 
the Rev, Mr. Bisset of Aberdeen, sympathizing, in the 
kindest manner, with him and his brother Ralph on 
this trying occasion ; and intimating, that, if they would 
return to their old terms of church-fellowship, (mean- 
ing, we suppose, if they would cease to require the 
swearing of the Bond,) he and several other clergymen 
in the north would join them. But something higher 
than the solacement of human friendship was necessary 
to assuage his grief. His eyes were directed to the 
God of Zion, and the Prince of peace ; — " to the nail 
fastened in a sure place, on whom hangs all the glory 
of his Father's house." Here, as formerly, when inju- 
riously expelled from the communion of the National 
Church, he once more found sweet consolation. " Here 
is comfort," he had said, " in case of rents, divisions, 
and manifold disorders in the visible church, as there 
is at this day. . . . Here is comfort, that the great 
Manager of the house is looking on ; he permits and 
over-rules all these confusions and disorders for his own 
holy and wise ends, for the trial of faith and patience, 
and to show his own skill in bringing order out of con- 
fusion ; and when he has performed his whole work in 
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will reign among his 
ancients gloriously."* 

That there was much to blame at this mournful di- 
vision, in the spirit and conduct of the Ministers of the 
Secession, on both sides, may be readily admitted. 
Never, perhaps, was the truth of Father Paul's remark 
more strikingly verified : "In verbal contentions, the 
smallness of the difference often nourishes the obstinacy 

* Works, vol. ii. p. 349. 



450 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of the parties."* That " the way of man is not in him- 
self has seldom been more impressively demonstrated 
in fact, than when the same enlightened and excellent 
men, who, by the Divine aid, had conducted them- 
selves, with great propriety and dignity, in those ap- 
pearances before the Established Judicatories, which 
terminated in their secession, now, when left to their 
own humours, contended with each other in a very cul- 
pable and indecorous manner. The breach, with its 
attendant circumstances and immediate fruits, was high- 
ly prejudicial to the cause of the Secession, and to the 
general interests of religion. Yet " the only wise God," 
who, in his adorable Providence, brings good out of 
evil, did, in all probability, over-rule it for the more 
extensive diffusion of the Gospel. In the course of a 
few years, the number of the Seceding Ministers and 
congregations was more than doubled ; and the vigi- 
lance with which the two Synods, claiming each the 
name and the powers of 66 the Associate Synod," watch- 
ed each other's movements, may have contributed to 
the preservation of the truth. The Ministers of both 
Synods, at any rate, continued universally to preach 
the Gospel, and to administer the ordinances of Christ 
in purity ; and after the separation had lasted more than 
seventy years, it pleased God to pour out the Spirit of 
love and peace on the ministers and members of the 
two great branches of the Secession, and to accomplish 
the Re-union consummated under favourable auspices 
on the 8th September 1820, in Bristo Street Meeting- 
house, Edinburgh, — the very spot where they had for- 
merly parted. May this Re- union, which has now sub- 



* Quoted in Milner's Church History, vol. v. p. 519. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



451 



sisted for the space of ten years, be increasingly con- 
solidated by the Divine favour and blessing, and prove 
a step towards the acceleration of that wished-for pe- 
riod, when every cause of division in the church shall 
cease, when the truth and peace shall be ardently and 
universally loved, and all Christians shall delight to 
dwell together in unity, " that with one mind and one 
mouth they may glorify God, even the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

For a few years subsequently to the breach, Mr. Er- 
skine continued not only to prosecute the labours of the 
ministry at Stirling, but to discharge other ecclesiastic 
cal duties which devolved on him. He took his share, 
for example, in the Critical Exercises for mutual im- 
provement, assigned to the members of his Presbytery. 
The following Memorandum, accordingly, appears in 
one of his Note-books, at the head of an " Exercise and 
Addition" on Jude 1. : — " The Associate Presbytery of 
Glasgow having appointed a Presbyterial exercise upon 
the Epistle of Jude, — I, as the oldest, had the 1st verse 
appointed me, — to be delivered at their next meeting, 
April 1750, in Stirling." 

He had been honoured previously, however, with a 
Synodical appointment, of far greater weight. The 
Rev. Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, who succeed- 
ed Mr. Wilson of Perth as Professor of Divinity, being 
one of those Brethren who utterly condemned the dis- 
puted clause in the Burgess Oath, as inconsistent with 
the character and circumstances of Seceders, the Synod 
to which Mr. Erskine belonged, in the first instance, 
fixed their choice on him as Teacher of the Candidates 
for the Christian ministry under their inspection. From 



452 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



a manuscript written by Mr. James Erskine, we learn, 
that, after having attended more than one session at 
Abernethy, he entered his Uncle's Divinity class at 
Stirling in December 1748. The late Rev. William 
M'Ewen of Dundee, and John Brown of Haddington, 
commenced their theological studies under the same 
venerable man. Mr. Brown retained a favourable im- 
pression of his appearances in the chair, and was wont 
to say, that he gave them not only instructive lectures, 
but many serious and affecting advices. But however 
well qualified he was in other respects for this moment- 
ous charge, bodily infirmities induced him to resign it 
so early as some time in 1749 ; for in that year we 
find Mr. Fisher, his successor, was invested with the 
office. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



453 



CHAPTER X. 

Mr. Erskine visited with new bereavements — His infirmities-— 
Obtains Mr. James Erskine for his assistant and successor—* 
Exemplary conduct, and striking expressions, in the near pro~ 
sped of eternity — Death and burial — Sketch of his character, 
with anecdotes — Excellencies as a Preacher and an Author—* 
Notices of his family and descendants — Conclusion, 

The shadows of the evening are not more grateful to 
the labourer who has borne the burden and heat of 
the day, nor the first appearances of the longed for ha- 
ven to the mariner who has undergone the hazards of 
a tedious and tempestuous voyage, than are the ap- 
proaches of death to the conscientious Christian, after 
the toils and perils of an active and eventful life. Even 
at an early period of his ministry at Portmoak, the sub- 
ject of these memoirs, as has been stated, was led, by 
personal and domestic afflictions, to anticipate, with 
holy solicitude and joyful hope, a speedy dismission 
from the region of conflict, temptation, and sorrow, to 
the land of eternal rest. For singularly important and 
interesting purposes, of which, at that time, he could 
not entertain the most distant conception, his life watf 
prolonged far beyond his expectations. But shortly 
after the occurrences narrated at the close of the pre- 



I 



454 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ceding chapter, the renewed breaches which took place 
in the circle of his family and relatives, with the com- 
mencing infirmities of age, served powerfully to direct 
his thoughts and desires to a blessed immortality. 

On the 15th March 1751, he lost his second wife ; 
and his brother Ralph died on the 6th November 1752. 
When the interesting intelligence of his dear brother's 
decease was communicated to him, he said with great 
emotion, " And is Ralph gone? He has twice got 
the start of me ; he was first in Christ, and now he is 
first in glory." Amid all his bereavements and afflic- 
tions, he made Jehovah his confidence and hope. 
u Many of God's billows are going over me," says he 
in a letter to a friend, " yet still I hope the Lord will 
command his loving-kindness in the day-time, and his 
song shall be with me in the night." 

For a long series of years posterior to the threaten- 
ing ailments he last suffered at Portmoak, he was bless- 
ed with excellent health, and enabled to acquit himself 
of his various obligations, both at home and abroad, 
with much activity. But when he approached the age 
of three score years and ten, he had repeated attacks 
of trouble, and his bodily vigour gradually failed. In 
a letter addressed to his daughter, Mrs. Scott, dated 
« Stirling, May 22, 1750," he says,— 
" My dear Alice, 

" This acquaints you that I 
have had this winter several severe fits of the colic. 
But I bless the Lord, who has hitherto helped me, 
when brought low. I am at present in tolerable health, 
though infirmities increase with age, being this day 
within a month of seventy years." 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 455 



His daughter Anne, Mrs. Jaffray, writes a postscript 
to the same letter, in which, after giving her sister an 
account of the spiritual comfort she had enjoyed in 
hearing the Gospel, and partaking of the Lord's Sup- 
per at Falkirk, from which she had just returned ; she 
adds, " My father was not there ; he does not agree 
with travelling." 

Having become incapable of preaching regularly 
every Sabbath, his place was occasionally supplied by his 
Brethren, and by probationers. His people cheerfully 
consented to make adequate provision for an assistant ; 
and, in consequence, Mr. James Erskine, his nephew, 
and third son of his brother Ralph, being regularly 
called, was ordained his colleague and successor on the 
22d January 1752. One of the sermons of that day 
was preached by Ebenezer himself, from 2 Cor. iv. 7. 
•i But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the 
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of 
us."* An attentive reader of that discourse will see 
reason to conclude, that, under whatever corporeal in- 
firmities he then laboured, his mental vigour was in no 
degree impaired. 

Mr. James Erskine proved an eminent blessing to 
his uncle, and to the congregation. " As a son with 
the father, he served with him in the Gospel." But 
notwithstanding this alleviation of his labours, the frail- 
ties of the aged minister continued and increased ; and 
the day of his death was obviously approaching. The 
following sentences, accordingly, occur in a letter from 
his colleague to Mrs. Scott, bearing date " Stirling, 
Oct. 10, 1753 :" — " Your father still remains incapable 

• Works, vol. ii. pp. 675-696. 



456 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of preaching, through his bodily indisposition* Al- 
though the wound he got when he was cut of the fis- 
tula be quite filled up and covered with skin, yet a most 
uneasy pain still remains, which occasions a vast deal 
of trouble to him, and has made him sometimes appre- 
hensive of the fistula's recurring. What may be the 
event of his trouble the Lord only knows." She had 
afterwards a letter from her sister Mrs. JafFray, dated 
the 23d April 1754, which contains the following ex- 
pressions : — " My father is no better, and I am afraid 
never will ; he complains that he is always weaker." 

The truth is, that, owing to the imperfect state of 
medical science at that time, a painful operation to 
which he submitted gave but partial and temporary 
relief.* It was his happiness, however, to experience 
the most tender sympathy from his daughters, his col- 
league and other relatives, from an affectionate con- 
gregation, and a wide circle of friends. What was 
incomparably better, he enjoyed the reviving presence 
of the God of Jacob. Under acute pain and protract- 
ed debility, he exemplified the power of that living 
faith which he had often inculcated on others, and ex- 
hibited a noble pattern of devout resignation. Some- 
time after his affliction had almost constantly confined 
him to bed, his people expressed an earnest desire to 
see and hear him once more ; and in compliance with 
their solicitations, he went from his bed to the pulpit, 
and delivered a short discourse from these cheering 
words, Job xix. 25. " I know that my Redeemer 
liveth." 

His last Note-book contains the following Memoran- 

* This account was given to the writer by the late Mr, Ebeu- 
ezer Scott, surgeon, Dalkeith, Mr. Erskine's grandson. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 457 

dum: "Stirling, Sabbath, Nov. 12, 1752,— My dear 
brother Ralph having died the 16th, and been buried 
the 19th [October,] I incline to preach on the text fol- 
lowing, Job xix. 25." Then follows a sermon on that 
text, — the last, perhaps, that he ever fully composed ; 
for it is succeeded by some blank leaves, and then by 
several sermons written by his son-in-law Mr. Fisher. 

Mr. Erskine himself relates the circumstances under 
which he now preached from these words, in a letter 
addressed to Mrs. Scott, which discovers full tranquil- 
lity of mind, and breathes a submissive, grateful, and 
affectionate spirit. It is as follows : 

Stirling, , 1753. 

" My dear Alice, 

" My nephew James read me your 
letter to him yesterday, which brought me under a new- 
sympathy with you, on account of the death of your 
dear uncle Ralph, and the staggering condition of your 
father. According to the course of nature, it was my 
turn to have gone off before him. But the will of the 
good and sovereign God has determined otherwise, and 
that I should tarry behind for a while in this weary 
wilderness. It seems I am not yet made meet to be a 
partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, but 
need to be more beaten in the wilderness with the ham- 
mer of affliction, before I come to the upper temple 
and sanctuary. But good is the will of the Lord. 
. " As for the state of my health, about which you are 
so anxious, I bless the Lord I have no formed sickness ; 
only I have borne, and am still so much afflicted with 
pain, that I am unable to follow the work of the minis- 
try. I am mostly confined to my bed. I sometimes 
get up, but in a little I am forced to return to my bed 

x 



458 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



again through pain, which abates as to the severity of 
it whenever I get to bed, in so much that my tottering 
hand becomes steady, and both body and mind are 
more easy. This letter is a proof of what I say, for 
it is wrote in bed — leaning on my elbow. I could 
neither have written so much, nor so well, had I been 
sitting at the table. The Lord makes me to sing of 
mercy on this account, that my bed is made to ease 
me, and my couch to comfort me ; nor am I, like poor 
Job, scared with dreams, or terrified with visions. 
Many a time my meditations of Him are sweet in the 
silent watches of the night. Many, many a time, the 
Lord says, 6 1 am the Lord thy God ;' and then follows, 
6 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art 
my God.' < Thine am I, O David, and on thy side 
will I be, thou son of Jesse/ 

" On Sabbath last, in the afternoon, as the people 
were very urgent to see and hear me, I went from my 
bed to the pulpit ; and after preaching half an hour 
from these words, 6 1 know that my Redeemer liveth,' 
I returned from the pulpit to my bed again. — I begin 
to weary on my elbow. 

Your very affectionate Father, 

E. Erskine." 

His last sermon was literally preached from his bed 
to a company assembled in his room, where he baptised 
a child, after discoursing on a text with which he had 
particularly wished to finish his ministry, viz. Psalm 
xlviii. 14. " This God is our God for ever and ever ; 
he will be our guide even unto death." 

His private conversation with relatives and other 
kind inquirers, during his last illness, was at once cheer- 



*THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 459 



fill and edifying. He often expressed himself in lan- 
guage to this effect. " I have always found my times 
of severe affliction my best times. Many blasts I have 
endured through life ; but I had this comfort under 
them — a good God, a good conscience, a good cause." 
When one of his elders thus accosted him : " Sir, you 
have given us many good advices ; may I ask what you 
are now doing with your own soul ?" "I am just doing 
with it," he replied, " what I did forty years ago ; I am 
resting on that word, ? I am the Lord thy God.' " An- 
other friend, surprised at the serenity and cheerfulness 
he possessed in the immediate view of death and eter- 
nity, put the question ; " Sir, are you not afraid of your 
sins I" " Indeed no," was his answer ; " ever since I 
knew Christ, I have never thought highly of my frames 
and duties, nor am I slavishly afraid of my sins," 

To several friends who were conversing with him one 
afternoon, he expressed his assurance of future bliss in 
the following memorable words ; " O, Sirs, my body is 
now become a very disagreeable habitation for my 
soul ; but when my soul goes out of my body, it will as 
naturally fly into the bosom of Jesus, as a stone will 
fall to the centre."* Or, as others relate the anecdote, 
he said, what is entirely to the same effect, and what 
probably he also uttered, either then or about the same 
time ; " I know that when my soul forsakes this taber- 
nacle of clay, it will fly as naturally to my Saviours 
bosom, as the bird to its beloved nest."f To a rela- 
tive he one day said, " While age and infirmities are 
increasing, I desire to wait all the days of my appoint- 
ed time till my change come, looking out for the ever- 



* Gospel-Truth, p. 61, $ Portmoak MS. 



460 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



lasting day of the immediate enjoyment of the Lord, 
when sighing and sinning shall have an everlasting 
end." To another of his relations who came to see 
him, and began to comfort him thus, " I hope you get 
now and then a blink to bear up your spirit under your 
affliction, — he promptly returned this spirited reply, 
u I know more of ivords than of blinks. Though he 
slay me, yet will I trust in him. The covenant is my 
charter ; and if it had not been for that blessed word, 
my hope and strength had perished from the Lord." 
To his beloved children he unbosomed himself in the 
most endearing manner, mingling consolation with hi9 
dying counsels : " Though I die, the Lord liveth. I 
have known more of God since I came to this bed, 
than through all my life." 

During the night on which he finished his earthly 
career, Mrs. Fisher, having come from Glasgow to visit 
her dying father, was sitting in the apartment where 
he lay, and engaged in reading. Awakening from a 
slumber, he said, " What book is that, my dear, you 
are reading?" "It is your sermon, father," she re- 
plied, " on that text, c I am the Lord thy God.' " " O 
woman," said he then, " that is the best sermon ever I 
preached." The discourse had proved very refreshing 
to himself, as well as to many of his hearers. A few 
minutes after that expression had fallen from his lips, 
he requested his daughter to bring the table and candle 
near the bed ; and having shut his eyes, and laid his 
hand under his cheek, he quietly breathed out his soul 
into the hands of his Redeemer, on the 2d of June 
1754. Had he lived twenty days longer, he would-' 
have finished the seventy-fourth year of his age ; and 
had he been spared three months more, he would have 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 461 

completed the fifty-first of his ministry, having resided 
twenty-eight years at Portmoak, and nearly twenty- 
three at Stirling. 

The following extract from a letter, the original of 
which we very lately received, goes to confirm the 
above statements respecting the tranquil, and even tri- 
umphant manner of his death. It is addressed to Mrs. 
Scott, by Mr. James Wardlaw, a very worthy gentle- 
man at Dunfermline, who had married one of his 
daughters. 

" Dear Sister, 

" Having opportunity of this bearer, 
I thought I might write to you, that I saw your dear 
father about eight days before he died. He had the 
full exercise of his reason and judgment, and said to 
me he was going to death, and through it, with that 
promise in his hand, 6 1 am the Lord thy God/ He 
added, that the Lord had said that to him, and made 
his soul to answer and call him 6 My Lord and my 
God.' And after a little respite from the sickness he 
was then distressed with, he added that he rejoiced in 
hope of the glory of God. I was, you may be sure, 
much comforted to hear him, and so was every one 
that had the happiness of seeing him upon his death- 
bed, especially for twenty days before his death. He 
retained his judgment to the last, and spoke till within 
fifteen minutes of his death. . . . My wife joins 
in her compliments to you and Mr. Scott. And I am, 
Dear Sister, 

Your affectionate brother, 

J a. Wardlaw." 

Dunfermline, 24th June, 1754. 



462 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



In conformity with his own request, he was interred 
at the centre of his meeting-house, in a spot opposite to 
the pulpit, where a large stone covered his grave. A 
Latin inscription on the stone simply states the time of 
his decease, the duration of his ministry, his pastoral 
fidelity, and his having expressed a wish that his mor- 
tal remains should be deposited in the church, in order 
that, being dead, he might still confirm the doctrine, 
which, during his life, he had zealously maintained. 
It is as follows : 

2 Junii 1754, aetat 74, Dormiit in Jesu, 
Reverendus Dominus Ebenezer Erskine, 
Officio pastorali, primo apud Portmoacenses 28^ 
dein apud Stirlinenses 23, fidelissime functus, 
In aede hoc sepeliri voluit, 
ut, mortuus, testimonium firmaret, 
quod, dum vivus, mordicus tenuit. 

The original place of worship, however, built in the 
year 1740, having been lately demolished, and a new 
and elegant church erected a little backwards from its 
site, which was opened in spring 1826, Mr. Erskines 
tomb, in consequence, has undergone a change in its 
relative position. It is now situated in the area at the 
front of the church, at some distance from the wall. 
The people, it is said, intend to express their affection- 
ate veneration for his memory by erecting a new and 
handsome monument on the spot. His important ser- 
vices to the cause of truth and liberty, justly entitle 
him to the lasting gratitude and esteem, not merely of 
his own congregation, but of the whole Secession 
Church, and of his countrymen at large. 

The accounts already given of his life, ministry, and 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 463 



death, might seem to supersede any further delineation 
of his character. It may be proper, however, to 
exhibit in one view, some of its more prominent traits, 
interspersing a few facts and anecdotes, not yet related. 

His piety was at once evangelical, sincere, and fer- 
vent. We have seen the mighty change of inward sen- 
timent and feeling he experienced a few years after his 
ordination to the sacred office, with its salutary and 
permanent fruits in his conduct. We have seen with 
what solemnity he dedicated himself to God, and with 
what fidelity he endeavoured to perform his resolutions 
and vows. We have seen the cheerful and persevering 
diligence he discovered in improving both public and 
private means of spiritual advancement, and in closely 
communing with God, and with his own heart. The 
necessity of vital religion to the comfort and usefulness 
of a Christian Minister, was strongly impressed on his 
mind ; and he appears to have maintained a habitual 
jealousy over himself, lest official duty should by any 
means justle out personal devotion, — lest while assidu- 
ously engaged in distributing spiritual provision to 
others, he should forget to bring it home for the nou- 
rishment of his own soul. " The ministers of the Gos- 
pel," he observes, " when dispensing the truths of God, 
must preach home to their own souls as well as to 
others ; and truly it can never be expected that we 
should apply the truth with any warmth or liveliness to 
others, unless we make a warm application thereof to 
our own souls. And if we do not feed upon these doc- 
trines, and practise the duties which we deliver to you, 
though we preach to others, we ourselves are but cast- 
aways." 

The spirituality of his mind was manifest to all with 



464 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



whom he conversed. At one time, when his Brethren 
were talking in his presence about the peculiarities of 
the Newtonian system — the vast number and amazing 
revolutions of the stars, his thoughts taking a still higher 
flight, he thus expressed himself, " I'll see all these on 
my way to glory/' When he happened, in the course 
of his walks, to fall in with any of his hearers pursuing 
their usual employment, he was accustomed to propose 
some spiritual question for their solution. Even tri- 
vial incidents were improved for the purpose of moral 
and religious instruction. At one time, for example, 
when passing over a hill in the parish of Portmoak, a 
lark, pursued by a hawk, took refuge in his bosom ; he 
kindly lodged the little refugee, till, having reached a 
great distance from its persecutor, he gave it liberty to 
soar and sing in safety ; and this small circumstance 
suggested to his mind a train of happy thoughts, which 
he brought forward in a discourse from Psalm xxxiv. 
22. " The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants ; 
and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate."* 
Nothing is more offensive to a pious ear than the 
gross profanation of the name of God. The following 
anecdote discovers the horror which it excited in the 
breast of this good man, with his anxiety to check it, 
and, at the same time, illustrates the power of conscience 
over the most daring transgressors. When crossing 
the Forth from Leith to Kinghorn, he had the unhap- 
piness to find himself in the midst of ungodly passen- 
gers, who took the most unhallowed liberties with their 
Creator's name. For a time he was silent, but at last, 
unable to suppress his concern, and solicitous to curb 



* Portmoak MS. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 465 

their blaspheming tongues, he rose from his seat, and 
taking hold of the mast, uncovered his head, waved 
his hat, and cried aloud, "O yes! Q yes ! O yes !" 
Having thus secured the attention of the astonished 
passengers and crew, he proceeded, in a solemn and im- 
pressive manner to proclaim that commandment of the 
moral law which they were flagrantly violating : " Thou 
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; 
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his 
name in vain." Without adding a single word, he quit- 
ted the mast, covered his head, and resumed his seat.* 
The giddy company, however, resolved to harden 
themselves against this striking reproof. They began 
first to elbow each other, then to titter, and at last, to be 
avenged on their kind reprover, they burst into a fit of 
loud laughter. Their conversation soon became as pro- 
fane and offensive as before. Among the rest, a lady, 
laying aside the delicacy of the sex, and regardless alike 
of the authority of God and the maxims of politeness, 
seemed to find a malicious pleasure in giving emphasis to 
almost every sentence, by intermixing the sacred name, 
accompanied with smiles of derision and contempt, obvi- 
ously intended to mortify the venerable man. It pleas- 
ed God, however, to second the despised warning of 
his servant, by an alarming admonition of his provi- 
dence. When they had got to the north of Inch-Keith, 
a tempest suddenly arose ; the heavens became black with 
clouds ; the sea raged ; the danger was imminent ; the 
pilot, unable to keep hold of the helm, assured them that 
their fate was inevitable. This unexpected alteration 

* Compare the extract from his Diary, dated " Monday, J an. 
29, 1712,"— quoted, pp. 183-4. 



466 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of circumstances produced at least a temporary change 
on their spirit and appearance. Their sportive gaiety- 
gave place to consternation and despair. The same 
lady who had acted so insolent a part towards the faith- 
ful clergyman, overwhelmed with dismay, now sprang 
across the boat, and clasped her arms around his neck, 
exclaiming, " O Sir, if I die here, I will die with you." 
Through the Divine patience and forbearance, however, 
they weathered the storm, and reached the harbour in 
safety. 

His natural affection, constitutionally strong and 
tender, was ennobled and refined by the operation of 
religious principle. We have seen the alacrity and fre- 
quency with which he called on his family to unite with 
him in acts of worship ; the fervent prayers he poured 
forth for " the mother and the children ;" and the ten- 
der solicitude he felt when affliction and death approach- 
ed his abode. As a father, he blended condescension 
and kindness with parental authority. It was his care 
not only to instruct his children in the first principles of 
religion, but affectionately to point out its necessity and 
utility, and to inculcate an early acceptance of that Sa- 
viour who was infinitely precious to himself. For this 
purpose, when they were advancing to maturity, he 
was accustomed, according to the statement of his 
daughter, Mrs. Scott, to disclose the secrets of his 
heart, and to favour them occasionally with notices of 
his own religious experience. Nor did he omit those 
minute attentions to their external comfort, which ex- 
ceedingly endear a father to his offspring, and increase 
his beneficial influence a thousand-fold. The boards of 
his Note-books for the pulpit bear testimony to this 



THE REV* EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



467 



trait of his character ; for some of them are full of me- 
moranda respecting various useful and gratifying arti- 
cles which he intended to procure for them when he 
made visits to Kirkaldy and Edinburgh. Never does 
a great man appear to higher advantage, than at the 
moment of his descending, under the impulse of noble 
principles, to those small expressions of kindness which 
the circumstances of infancy and childhood require. 
Who would not admire the amiable Philip Melanc- 
thon, when rocking the cradle of his child, and vindi- 
cating himself to a learned associate who happened to 
find him thus engaged, and twitted him for performing 
a service unworthy of his dignity, — by reminding him 
that little children are the charge of angels. 

Mr. Erskine's domestic servants, also, whether young 
or adult, were the objects of his fatherly regard. He 
cheerfully allowed them their full share, both of tem- 
poral and spiritual advantages ; they were expressly in- 
cluded in his daily prayers, and in his repeated dedica- 
tions of himself and his household to God. When la- 
bourers were occasionally employed in his service, too, 
he pleasantly directed their attention to important les- 
sons suggested by the work which occupied their 
hands. 

His Christian benevolence was not confined within the 
narrow circle of his own family and relatives. It took 
a wider range, and extended its generous efforts to 
every individual of his people, to all the churches, to 
all mankind. What a high value he put on the souls 
of men, and how desirous he was to become instrumen- 
tal in promoting their salvation, is clear from the whole 



468 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tenor of his ministry. The enlightened views he at- 
tained of evangelical truth, and the lively interest he 
took in the spiritual welfare of others, rendered him 
singularly useful, as well in private conference as in 
public ministrations, to those who laboured under dis- 
tress and perplexity respecting the most momentous of 
all concerns. Nor did he overlook the temporal neces- 
sities of men, as the following quotation, relating to his 
exemplary conduct at Portmoak, will serve to evince : 
" It is established by a variety of evidence, that Mr. 
Erskine had a noble generosity of soul, so that when 
applied to for assistance, his heart and hand went as far 
as his ability and circumstances would admit. At all 
times his advice and aid might be confidently relied 
upon, in every scheme which had the comfort of man- 
kind for its object. Hence he was frequently calling 
upon his people to contribute with him for the relief of 
the indigent scholar, the forlorn captive, and the good 
man reduced by unavoidable misfortune. He paid 
much attention to the parochial funds, which increased 
to a great sum under his ministry. This accumulation 
arose, not from withholding from the poor more than 
was meet ; for their allowance, considering the reduced 
value of money, was very considerable. But he was 
enabled to be very liberal to the poor and needy, and, 
at the same time, to enrich their funds ; not merely by 
that spirit of philanthropy and charity that he infused 
into his own people, by precept and example, but by 
resources which flowed to the funds of the parish, from 
the great confluence of people who came from distant 
places, drawn by their high esteem of Mr. Erskine, to 
^ttend when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 469 

dispensed. During his incumbency, the collections on 
these occasions gradually rose.* The munificence of 
Mr. Erskine's temper would not permit him to retain 
those collections, without communicating of the abund- 
ance brought to the parish, to those who were in des^ 
titute circumstances, at a distance. Sometimes not less 
than one-fourth of the whole was distributed to the 
pious poor and afflicted [belonging to other parishes,] 
who were recommended to the Session as entitled to 
relief."! 

No feature of his character was more distinctly 
marked than his public spirit — his ardour in the cause 
of religion and religious liberty, and noble magnanimity 
in its behalf. His was a zeal that burned with a pure 
and steady flame. A well-merited encomium was 
passed on him by his beloved coadjutor Mr. Wilson of 
Perth, when, in a moment of innocent pleasantry, com- 
paring the four Brethren to the " four living creatures" 
in the Prophet's vision ; he thus began the comparison, 
" Our Brother Mr. Erskine has the face of a man"J — 
evidently meaning that he was characterized by manly 
intelligence, energy, and fortitude. 

Nor is there cause to question that his zeal was hap- 
pily tempered with candour and true moderation. While 
he deemed it necessary to testify, in his discourses, 
against prevailing errors and corruptions, he gladly 
took notice of whatever seemed auspicious in the signs 
of the times. Though unable to shut his eyes against 
dark and portentous appearances, he was too candid to 



* Compare p. 202. + Portmoak MS. 

i Ferrier's Mem. of the Rev. W. Wilson, p. 357. 



470 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



overlook the bright spots in the horizon. In one of his 
published sermons, for instance, after enumerating the 
defections of the day, he proceeds with manifest delight 
to detail a variety of circumstances, calculated to en- 
courage the friends of Zion, to excite their gratitude, 
and strengthen their faith.* His remarks on public 
evils were almost always concisely and temperately ex- 
pressed. Even the sermon preached at the opening of 
the Synod of Perth and Stirling, so loudly decried by 
the leading clergy of the age, and followed by such im- 
portant results, discovers an uncommon degree of cau- 
tion and discretion, mingled with fidelity. It has been 
justly observed, that the reader will find it " a faithful 
evangelical sermon, free from all heat and virulence, 
breathing much of the spirit of Christian love, and ma- 
nifesting the most temperate zeal for the Redeemer's 
glory, and for the good of souls."f In the different 
questions, too, that were discussed by the Associate 
Presbytery and Synod, he uniformly showed a for- 
bearing and conciliatory spirit, and a decided aversion 
to measures unnecessarily strong and severe. Here let 
one example suffice. The Associated Brethren, soon 
after their separation from the Established Church, 
were led to examine the propriety of holding public 
fasts on the days appointed by the civil authorities* 
Owing to an extreme scrupulosity regarding Christ's 
exclusive sovereignty as the Head of the Church, afteF 
repeated and keen discussion in the Presbytery, it wak 

* See his sermon on Is. lix. 10. " When the enemy cometh in 
Hk;e a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against 
him."— Works, vol. i. p. 554. 

■f- See Ferrier's Memoir of Mr. Wilson, pp. 203-6. where the 
author well illustrates the spirit and tenor of that discourse. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



471 



decided by the majority of a single vote, that the power 
of appointing the times, and specifying the causes of 
fasting, belongs exclusively to the Church Courts ; and 
that, under the circumstances in which the nation and 
the Church were then placed, it was unlawful to ob- 
serve the fasts appointed by Government, or even to 
observe, on the same days, fasts of their own appoint- 
ment. Messrs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, however, 
concurred in firmly opposing this measure, as unwar- 
rantably rigid ; and were prevented from carrying their 
opposition to the utmost, only by their pacific disposi- 
tion, and their fear of injuring the great cause in which 
themselves and the strenuous supporters of that deci- 
sion had jointly embarked.* — Mr. Whitefield has the 
following expression in a letter addressed to Mr. David 
Erskine, one of Ebenezer's sons : "I wish all [the mi- 
nisters of the Associate Presbytery] were like-minded 
with your honoured father and uncle ; matters then 
would not be carried on with so high an hand."f 

The subject of this memoir, in his general deport- 
ment, joined to the gravity and dignity becoming his 
office, a most engaging courteousness and affability. 
Far from injuring the credit of religion by a sullen re- 
serve, a monastic austerity, or a repulsive moroseness, 
he wore a cheerful aspect, mingled prudently with those 
around him, was discreetly obliging to all men, and 
never apt to frown on any recreation that he considered 
rational and innocent. He was a lover of music, and 

* Brown's Hist, of the Secession, p. 50. 8th ed. Hist. Acc. of 
the Secession in Christ. Repos. vol. iv. pp. 525-7. 
f Coll. of Mr. Whitefield's Letters, No. 425. 



472 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



though probably no performer, occasionally amused 
himself by hearing a tune on the violin.* After his 
translation to Stirling, for the sake of his health, he 
sometimes took part in a game at the bowling-green. 
On one of those occasions, falling in with a military 
officer, who began to swear, he administered a gentle 
reproof. The officer resenting it as an insult, was vio- 
lently enraged, and instantly drew his sword. But a 
magistrate, who happened to be present, coolly told 
him, that the gentleman who had checked him for 
swearing was a clergyman, and had only discharged his 
official duty ; and that he must either beg Mr. Erskine's 
pardon, or go directly to prison. The officer's passion 
immediately subsided, and, sheathing his sword, he re- 
quested the minister's forgiveness. 

Whilst the correctness of his morals as a Christian 
was above suspicion, his loyalty as a citizen was incon- 
testable 7 established. His open appearances and un- 
compromising efforts in the cause of truth, exposed him, 
it is true, to the most violent obloquy from those whose 
ecclesiastical policy he judged it necessary to condemn 
and resist. His adversaries stigmatised him as a noto- 
rious troubler, both of church and state, and struggled 
hard to prove him guilty of sedition, if not of treason. 
In common with the rest of the eight Brethren who se- 
ceded from the Judicatories of the Chuich of Scotland, 
he was involved in a heavy and ill-founded accusation, 
by the act of Assembly 1739 ; where it is affirmed, that, 
by the paper they had read in the presence of the As- 
sembly, they had taken upon them to speak " in most in- 



* Portinoak MS. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



473 



jurious, disrespectful, and insolent terms, concerning 
the highest civil authority." The Associate Presby- 
tery, in their observations on that act, very properly 
stated, that, in this " general charge, nothing else can 
be meant than the testimony, that the Presbytery 
judged it their duty to give against the encroachment 
made upon the rights and privileges of the spiritual 
kingdom of the Lord Jesus, in the late act of Parlia- 
ment anent Captain John Porteous, which was read in 
one shape or other by most part of the ministers of this 
Church ; and the sinfulness of which was never testified 
against by any of the present judicatures."* 

To insist no further, on this sweeping charge, against 
all the seceding Brethren, founded merely on their faith- 
ful allusion to that extraordinary transaction, let it suf- 
fice to notice the personal thrusts aimed at Mr. Er- 
skine. A pamphlet was written by a Mr. Potter, 
minister of Kippen, in which it is gravely alleged, that 
he was hired by the Pope of Rome, as one of his agents, 
to rend the Church of Scotland. When he preached 
at Edinburgh, in November 1735, from Amos ix. 11. 
" In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David," 
&c. ; his sermons were calumniated as libels on the Go- 
vernment ; and several sentences ascribed to him, but 
falsely or defectively stated, were transmitted by men 
in power to London, for the consideration of his Ma- 
jesty's ministers. Similar treatment befel him, also, on 
a subsequent occasion, when, on the 18th October 1737, 
he delivered a discourse before the Associate Presby- 

* He-exhibition, pp. 223-8. The reader will find a circumstan- 
tial account of Cap. Porteous's interesting affair, with the pro- 
ceedings to which it gave rise, in Struth. Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. 
pp. 29-39. 



474 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tery at Perth, from Psalm ii. 6. " Yet have I set my 
king upon my holy hill of Zion." The Synod of Perth 
and Stirling happening to meet there at the same time, 
several ministers of that Synod placed themselves amongst 
his hearers, and, displeased at his bold remonstrances 
against the defections of the times, thought proper, af- 
terwards, to accuse him of disloyalty, and to take steps 
towards commencing a legal prosecution. To this he 
alludes in a note at the beginning of the first of his 
printed sermons on that text, where he assigns " the 
clamours of enemies" as one cause of their publication,* 
The discourses preached at Edinburgh, on Amos ix. 11., 
were published for a similar reason ; and in a preface 
to the first edition, he vindicates his loyalty against un- 
just reproach, in the following terms : 

" As my conscience bears me witness, so I want not 
abundance of witnesses, among my ordinary hearers, 
that I am none of those who despise dominions, or speak 
evil of dignities, as some would represent me. Accord- 
ing to the Divine command, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. I pray for 
the king, and for all in authority. I teach my people 
to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and un- 
to God the things that are God's ; and in so far as the 
laws of men are agreeable to the will of the Supreme 
Lawgiver of men and angels, I exhort my hearers to 
be subject to principalities and powers, and to obey 
magistrates as the ordinance of God, and that not only 
for wrath, but for conscience sake. I could, beside all 
this, perhaps, produce as good evidences of loyalty to 
his present Majesty [George II.,] and firm attachment 
to the Protestant line, in opposition to a Popish Pre- 



* Works, vol. ii. p. ] 89. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 475 



tender, as any who discover their inclination to im- 
peach me of disloyalty and disaffection. But I abstain 
from this confidence of boasting." 

Such was the Christian meekness and gentleness, 
combined with unshaken resolution and fortitude, with 
which he sustained the foul imputations of his enemies. 
He was never actually summoned, so far as we know, 
to appear before any civil magistrate or court, as a per- 
son suspected of disloyalty. Every attempt to convict 
him of any word or deed unbecoming a dutiful subject, 
or a peaceable member of society, proved abortive ; and 
the sharpest arrows of calumny were effectually re- 
pelled. 

All the other excellencies of this distinguished man 
were crowned by that amiable grace, unfeigned humi- 
lity. The true doctrine of the cross, to which he was 
so cordially attached, and of which he approved himself 
so determined an advocate, exerted its native influence 
in casting down every high imagination ; and in dispos- 
ing him both to walk humbly with God, and to exercise 
a condescending, mild, and forbearing temper towards 
men. He made no high pretensions, or ambitious 
claims. In some instances, indeed, he had the courage 
to check odious appearances of presumption and arro- 
gance in others, by seasonable and scriptural reproof* 
Yet self- diffidence and modesty adorned his behaviour. 
The honour and respect shown him by ministers and 
people came unsolicited, and often unlooked for. What- 
ever deference might have been due to him as the el- 
dest of the four Brethren in years and in office, as the 
standard-bearer among them, as a man of eminent gifts, 



476 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



acquirements, experience, and popularity, he was much 
more inclined to recognise the claims of others than to 
urge or magnify his own. Most cheerfully did he con- 
cur in those arrangements of the Associate Presbytery, 
by which the honours connected with the Professorship 
of Theology, in the Secession Church, were allotted, 
first, to the learned and indefatigable Mr. Wilson of 
Perth, and, after his decease, to the lively and zealous 
Mr. MoncriefF of Abernethy. In consequence of the 
unhappy breach 1747, he undertook, in compliance 
with the wishes of his friends, to discharge this highly 
responsible office for a time ; but no sooner did he find 
his bodily vigour unequal to that close attention to its 
duties, which he considered indispensable, than he im- 
mediately resigned it. So humble was the opinion he 
entertained of his own ability, that he even sometimes 
felt ashamed to succeed his Brethren in the pulpit. 
Whatever good his ministrations might be the means 
of effecting, he earnestly exhorted his hearers to look 
beyond the feeble instrument, and to ascribe the glory 
to the Saviour. A lady, we are told, who was present 
at the administration of the Lord's Supper, in a place 
where he was assisting, was greatly impressed by his 
discourse. Having learned who he was, she travelled, 
the following Sabbath, to his own place of worship, to 
hear him, but was much disappointed in feeling none of 
those lively impressions of the truth she had experienced 
on the former occasion. Wondering at the difference, 
she called for Mr. Erskine, and having plainly stated 
the circumstances, asked him to what he thought it 
might be owing. " Madam," he replied, " the rea- 
son is this, last Sabbath you went to hear Jesus 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 477 

Christ, but to-day you have come to hear poor Ebenezer 
Erskine." 

The firmness with which he long resisted the attempts 
that were made to remove him from the obscure parish 
of Portmoak to a higher and more comfortable sphere, 
supplies a satisfactory instance both of his spirituality 
and humility of mind. The speech he delivered at the 
meeting of Presbytery at which his call to Kinross was 
considered, is very expressive of an humble and unas- 
suming spirit. In addition to the sentences formerly 
cited,* he made the following remarks on that para- 
graph in the reasons for translation, which immediately 
related to himself : " As to the favourable character 
they are pleased to give me, upon which their third 
Reason is entirely founded, I hope by this time of day 
I have learned neither to be lifted up with the applauses, 
nor to be much cast down with the reproaches of men, 
seeing 6 He that judgeth me is the Lord/ Only I am 
conscious their character is so remote from the truth, 
that I blush it should have been read before you. The 
best that I can make of it is, that it is an error of ex- 
cessive charity towards me, which will not bear the in- 
ference they draw from it. I am persuaded that what- 
ever small talents the great Master has bestowed on 
me, they are more calculated for the parish of Port- 
moak than any congregation I know in this church." 
Nothing but a conscientious regard to the voice of pro- 
vidence induced him, ultimately, to leave a people to 
whom he felt so warmly attached, and to encounter the 
difficulties of a new and extensive charge. 

His humility appeared, further, in a readiness to re- 

* Pages 327-8. 



478 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tract any rash expression that had escaped him, and to 
change his sentiments when sufficient evidence was 
presented of his having entertained a misapprehension. 
His conduct on various occasions afforded satisfactory 
proof that he uttered no vain boast, when he said, " I 
am so far from pretending to infallibility, that I hope I 
shall never be ashamed publicly to retract what upon 
conviction shall be found to be amiss."* 

The modest estimate he formed of his own gifts and 
attainments is manifest, in fine, from his candid ac- 
knowledgments respecting the defects of his discourses, 
both as to matter and style, and also with regard to the 
indications they might exhibit of a corrupt bias remain- 
ing in his heart. In his Preface to the sermon on " the 
necessity and profitableness of good works," dated Port- 
moak, June 6, 1726 ; after stating the order which 
preachers ought to observe in the declaration of the 
truth, by teaching first of all the doctrines to be believ- 
ed, and then inculcating the duties to be performed, he 
thus proceeds : " Our words, who are ministers, do 
many times betray the legality of our hearts ; which I 
speak in a way of regret from my own sad experience, 
not in a way of reflection upon others. And I make 
no doubt that such as have a true taste of the Gospel 
may find something of this in the following discourse, 
though I have endeavoured to shun it as much as I 
could." " If by the publication of these imperfect 
scraps," he adds, " any shall be provoked to handle 
this or any other subjects with more accuracy, which 
may easily be done, I will heartily rejoice. And if 



• Works, vol. i. p. 116. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



479 



either the Church of God, or any particular soul, shall 
be edified by reading this, or any other of the quarrel- 
led sermons, he owes no thanks to me, but only to that 
God, who, by his over-ruling providence, makes the 
wrath of man to praise him ; and, for my own part, I 
desire to believe that the remainder of his wrath he will 
restrain."* 

Such were the principal features in the character of 
this eminent and amiable man. He had, without ques- 
tion, his faults and imperfections ; of some of which, 
express notice has been taken in the course of this pub- 
lication. During one period of his ministry at least, 
he had not escaped certain misconceptions, common 
amongst devout people of that age, respecting the in- 
terpretation to be put on strong impressions in prayer.f 
His zeal, it has been admitted, in prosecuting the pub- 
lic interests of religion, though justified by its occasion, 
and usually kept under the control of meekness and 
discretion, may sometimes have had its overflowings.^ 
In a word, to represent him as exempt from human 
imperfection would be to contradict his own unreser- 
ved statements in his Diary regarding those operations 
of indwelling sin, which he felt and deplored. || But, 
however humbling the views he entertained of himself, 
and whatever real spots and defects in his character, it 
is possible for either a friend or an enemy to point 
out, who can reasonably doubt that the high moral 
qualities he was enabled to display, were peculiarly or- 
namental to his profession as a Christian, to his office 

• Works, vol. i. p. 118. f Pa g es 309-311. 

t Pages 413, 428. (| Pages 92-95, 107, 117-121, &e. 



480 



LIFE AXD DIARY OF 



as a Minister, and to the conspicuous place assigned 
to him in providence as the Father of the Secession 
Church ? May all the ministers and members of that 
Church be followers of him, as he was of Christ ! May 
the slight sketch which has now been drawn, serve, 
through the power of that Holy Spirit, who abideth in 
the Church for ever, to allure every reader, in a man- 
ner suited to his station, to emulate that illustrious pat- 
tern of the Christian graces which this man of God 
was helped to exhibit ! 

Having thus attempted a delineation of his character 
as a man and a Christian, and having formerly detailed 
some particulars of his ministry, both at Portmoak and 
at Stirling, it would be superfluous to resume the con- 
sideration of his conduct generally as a pastor in the 
church. We must advert a little further, nevertheless, 
to his excellencies as a Preacher. 

We have seen, that though his original views of the 
Gospel were defective and confused, he became decid- 
edly evangelical. After obtaining the knowledge, and 
experiencing in his own soul the salutary power of the 
doctrines of grace, he declared them clearly and boldly 
to others, and gave them all that prominence which 
their vast importance requires. His ardent attachment 
to these doctrines, and his resolution to make them the 
chief topic of his sermons, are often strongly and hap- 
pily expressed.* His discourses, at the same time, by 
no means consisted of mere abstract reasonings on 
evangelical points. He was careful to make a close 

* See, for example, the Preface to the sermon on Good \Vork% 
vol. ii. p. 116. . Compare extracts .from Diary, pp. 180^1. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERMINE. 481 



application of the truth to the conscience and heart, 
and to illustrate its sanctifying influence on the temper 
and practice. It was the remark of an aged and vener- 
able man, who had often heard him in his youth, that 
" Mr. Erskine had a peculiar talent of entering into the 
heart and conscience of sinners, and into all the hopes 
and fears, the joys and griefs, the very life and death 
of saints ; and that he never heard one preach, who 
could, so well as he, bring, as it were, the Saviour and 
the sinner together."* 

Influenced by an earnest desire to save the souls of his 
hearers, and to further the cause of vital religion, he used 
great plainness of speech. His language was at once 
simple and nervous. His arrangements were generally 
natural ; and though, agreeably to the fashion of the times, 
his divisions of the subject were numerous, they were 
enriched with useful and striking illustrations. He 
usually wrote his discourses with care ; but did not con- 
fine himself entirely to what he had prepared ; and such 
was the self-possession he was enabled to maintain, 
that " what he delivered in public had often the advan- 
tage of his notes, both for closeness of connection, and 
accuracy of expression."f 

His appearance and manner were, no doubt, con- 
ducive to the acceptability and usefulness of his public 
ministrations. He had a manly and interesting coun- 
tenance,^: and a strong, yet pleasant voice. His elo- 

* Portmoak MS. 

-\- Works, vol. i. p, xxxix. 
I X We have seen three original Paintings of Mr. E. Erskine; 
one drawn before he left Portmoak, and now the property of 
the Rev. Ebenezer Brown, In verkei thing, which represents him 
as possessing sweet and engaging features ; and other two that 

Y 



482 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cution was natural, easy, and distinct. His address* 
far removed from every thing austere and forbidding, 
was at once grave, alluring, and impressive. His whole 
demeanour in the pulpit, in short, was characterized 
by a singular dignity, well suited to the sacred office 
of a messenger from the Lord of hosts, and to the im- 
portant and delightful message he announced. His 
numerous admirers could hardly speak, without rap* 
ture, of his noble and dignified appearance. Many 
years ago, for example, the late Rev. William Hut- 
ton of Dalkeith, in our own hearing, pronounced with 
great emotion the following eulogy ; " I never saw so 
much of the majesty of God in any mortal man as in 
Ebenezer Erskine." The Rev. Adam Gibb, too, is 
said to have thus expressed himself. Some time after 
Mr. Erskine's death, having asked the late Rev. Robert 
Campbell, of Stirling, if ever he had heard him, an 
answer was returned in the negative. "Well then, 
Sir," rejoined Mr. Gibb, " you never heard the Gos- 
pel in its majesty." 

Discourses which are full of interesting truth, and 
delivered with animation and dignity, can scarcely fail 
to be heard with attention and delight. Among the 
hearers of this excellent preacher, a drowsy or inatten- 
tive person was rarely to be seen. At one time, how-> 
ever, it is said, observing some of the audience asleep, 

were taken at a later period of his life, in which much of gravity 
and dignity is mixed with a pleasing aspect. One of these two 
belongs to Mr. Walter Wardlaw, Glasgow ; the other to Mr. 
Robert Simpson, Edinburgh. The latter, being that from 
which the Portrait in this volume is taken, was pronounced 
by the late Mrs. Scott the best likeness of her father she had 
seen. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSK1NE. 



483 



he made a solemn pause, and then exclaimed, " O earth, 
earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." The follow- 
ing incident also deserves to be recorded. Two men 
having been in the habit of travelling together more 
than twenty English miles to hear him at Stirling, one 
of them, on a certain Sabbath, finding himself apt to be 
overcome with drowsiness during the time of the ser- 
mon, asked his companion to give him a snuff. But 
while he complied with his fellow-traveller's request, 
all alive to the impression of the precious truths to 
which he was eagerly listening, he whispered in his ear 
this striking reproof ; — " O man ! there is a savour com- 
ing out of that pulpit, which, I think, might keep any 
person awake." 

The following anecdote will serve to illustrate the 
effect which the serene dignity of his manner, combined 
with the authority of his character, was fitted to pro- 
duce. Soon after the commencement of the Secession, 
while the public mind was greatly agitated by the ec- 
clesiastical occurrences then taking place, some highly 
applauding, and others keenly reprobating the proce- 
dure of the Associate Presbytery, several inhabitants 
of a parish in the vicinity of Stirling (the parish of 
Airth, it is said) requested Mr. Erskine to come and 
preach to them, which he consented to do. A number 
of the parishioners, however, displeased at the request, 
after mutual consultation, determined to prevent the 
sermon. The friends of Mr. Erskine were equally 
zealous, and resolved that he should not be hindered. 
Both parties having assembled in great numbers, and 
having taken their measures by placing themselves op- 
posite to one another, on the ground that lay between 
the house where the minister stopped, and the appoint- 



484 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ed place of meeting for worship, the hour arrived, and 
nothing short of a fierce conflict was immediately dread- 
ed. Mr. Erskine, however, no sooner made his appear- 
ance, than the turbulent passions of his enemies were 
completely allayed. He stepped forward with so cool 
and collected an air, and with so much composure and 
dignity, that an instantaneous impression was produced 
in his favour. As he walked betwixt the hostile ranks, 
the two parties seemed to rival each other in expressing 
their respect, and they speedily mingled their voices in 
one song of praise. The Psalm which he gave put on 
that occasion was sufficiently appropriate — Ps. xxvii. 3, 

" Against me though an host encamp, 
My heart yet fearless is ;" &c. 

The reader will recollect that some notices of the 
success of his preaching and other ministerial labours 
first at Portmoak, and then at Stirling, were formerly 
given. To these we shall only add the following tes- 
timony to the utility as well as popularity of his minis- 
try at Stirling. It is an extract from a Petition to the 
Provost, Bailies, and Town Council of that place by the 
Dean of Guild, for himself and his Guild Brethren, re- 
questing them to employ every means to prevent the 
threatened suspension of Mr. Erskine by the Commission 
of Assembly— bearing date the 27th July, 1733 : — " By 
the good hand of his Master upon him, he has delivered 
his mind and will to us in the glorious Gospel, both in 
preaching and in performing the other ministerial du- 
ties, to the great satisfaction and approbation of all 
that hear him. . . . We are afraid of any thing 
that has the least appearance to deprive us of the said 
Mr. Erskine's ministry, to which we are hopeful it has 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKlNE. 485 

pleased the Lord to append several seals, since his com- 
ing among us." 

The usefulness of this faithful herald of the cross was 
extended in some degree during his life-time, and has 
been subsequently prolonged, by the publication of a 
number of his sermons. The circumstances which ob- 
liged him to become an Author were formerly ad- 
verted to.* The complaints of offended brethren having 
compelled him to publish a few of his sermons for his 
own vindication, he became less backward than formerly 
to comply with the earnest solicitations of pious hearers, 
who wished to have an opportunity of reading dis- 
courses, from which, when delivered from the pulpit, 
they had received much instruction and comfort. Ac* 
cordingly, both before and after his translation to Stir- 
ling, he gave to the world a considerable number of se- 
parate discourses in small pamphlets ; some of which 
were published anonymously, partly from modesty, and 
partly because the General Assembly, in order to pre- 
vent the spread of the Marrow doctrine, had thought 
proper to enjoin all the ministers under their inspection 
to publish no sermons or treatises, without having first 
submitted them to the revisal of the Courts. A few 
of these detached sermons, with similar ones, of which 
his brother Ralph was the author, were collected and 
published in London, with a Recommendation by the 
Rev. Thomas Bradbury, the celebrated author of 
Discourses on « the Mystery of Godliness." One 
volume, and then other two volumes of sermons by 
these Brothers were thus edited, and proved highly 



Page 243. 



486 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



acceptable to many in England, about twenty years 
before the works of either were collected in Scot- 
land. In the year 1761, the Rev. James Fisher pub- 
lished at Edinburgh, in four volumes, duodecimo, a 
complete collection of all the sermons which Ebenezer 
had printed during his life. A volume of discourses 
never before printed, had been previously edited in the 
same city in 1755, by his son Mr. David Erskine. 
From the editor's Preface, it appears that his father had 
entrusted him with the publication of those sermons 
after his death ; and that with regard to the order in 
which they are arranged, as well as the title prefixed to 
each, he " scrupulously adhered to the directions" he 
received from his father before his decease. The vo- 
lume is dedicated to the Right Honourable Elizabeth, 
Countess of Northumberland, whose "generous assist- 
ance" afforded for the publication is gratefully acknow- 
ledged. The contents of these five volumes have sub- 
sequently undergone numerous and large impressions, 
in a variety of forms. The latest complete collection, 
so far as we know, is that consisting of two volumes, 
in large 8vo. which was printed at London in the year 
1826* 

Attempts have been made to enlarge the usefulness 
of these works by selection and abridgment, if not by 
translation. Some years ago, at the suggestion of some 
pious ladies, the sermons on " the Assurance of Faith" 
were printed^ separately in a small volume ; and they 
have now reached a third edition. In the year 1827, 
two small, volumes, 12mo. were published at Lon- 
don, apparently by one of the Wesleyan Methodists, 

* This is the edition to which references in the course of this 
volume are uniformly made. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 487 



entitled " A Series of Sermons on important and inter- 
ing subjects, by the late Ebenezer Erskine, Minister of 
the Gospel at Stirling, carefully abridged, corrected, 
and revised?* A selection of striking and instructive 
passages from his works, entitled " The Beauties of the 
Rev. Ebenezer Erskine," prepared by the Rev. Samuel 
M'Millan, Aberdeen, and recommended by a number 
of respectable ministers, has been very lately printed 
at Glasgow. The sermons of both the Erskines, that 
were collected by Mr. Bradbury, have been translated, 
we are told, into the Welsh language, and greatly valued 
among that people. 

It is not our intention to institute any critical in- 
quiry respecting the merits of Ebenezer's sermons. 
That they have no pretensions to that elegance of dic- 
tion and refinement of taste which constitute the chief 
recommendation of many fashionable volumes, is readily 
admitted. Nor are we unwilling to allow, that a fas- 
tidious reader of the present age may be apt to feel 
somewhat displeased at his pointed allusion to various 
subjects that were keenly discussed at the time when 
they were preached, unless he possess some previous 
knowledge of those controversies, and be prepared to 
make reasonable and candid allowances for the liberties 
taken by the preacher. But that they are on the 
whole conducive, in a high degree, to the purposes of 
spiritual edification, will not be easily questioned by 
the genuine friends of the Gospel ; and might be pre- 
sumed, with some appearance of reason, from the ex- 
tensive circulation which they have long had, and con* 



* See Appendix, No. XI* 



488 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tinue to have, amongst serious Christians in Britain, 
and other parts of the world. 

In the course of these memoirs we have occasionally 
alluded to some of these sermons. Particular notice 
might be taken of several others, as distinguished for 
" argument and substance," or for the lively and inter- 
esting manner in which evangelical truth is brought 
home to the reader. But suffice it only to notice his 
discourses on " the Assurance of Faith," which dis- 
cover the hand of a master, and have been remarkably 
blessed for the relief of the perplexed and disconsolate. 
His views on that topic, we may remark, though higher 
than many Christians approve, are widely different 
from certain notions on assurance, which of late have 
been zealously maintained and diffused** 

* This is an allusion to the doctrine held by Thomas Er- 
skine, Esq. and others, who make universal pardon the foun- 
dation of assurance. The late able, and justly lamented Dr. 
Thomson, having mentioned the Marrow of Modern Divi- 
nity, has the following remarks :— " Whatever may be said 
for or against the views which that volume and its supporters 
have given of assurance, they differ toto ccelo from Mr. Er- 
skine on faith, pardon, election, justification, salvation, and 
every point almost that he has touched upon in his Essay. . . . 
The following sentence, extracted from the writings of one of the 
Marrow-men, as they are called, will show how contrary their 
sentiments were to Mr. Erskine's. e I do not say, the first lan- 
guage of faith is, Christ died for me, or I was elected from eter- 
nity ; but the language of faith is, 6 God offers a living and cru- 
cified Saviour to me, and I take the slain Christ for my Saviour, 
and in my taking and embracing of him as offered, I have ground 
to conclude I was elected, and that he died for me in particular, 
and not before/ (Eb. Erskine on Saving Faith.") See the Doc- 
trine of Universal Pardon, Considered and Refuted, &c. by And. 
Thomson, D.D. App. Note EE. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 489 



The works of Mr. Erskine have, by the divine bless- 
ing, proved truly beneficial, not only to private Chris- 
tians, but to a considerable number of ministers ; who 
have frankly acknowledged both the benefit they have 
reaped from them to their own souls, and the salutary 
influence which his writings have exercised on their la- 
bours for the spiritual welfare of others. Some late 
writers having inconsiderately denounced the discourses 
of the Erskines as void of substance and savour, it seems 
proper here to present to the reader a specimen of the 
many warm and decided testimonies to their substantial 
excellence and undoubted utility, which have been 
spontaneously given by clergymen of high reputation 
for learning, piety, and worth. 

The Rev. Thomas Bradbury, mentioned above, a 
celebrated Dissenter in London, gives them the follow- 
ing character in his recommendatory Preface : " In 
these Sermons, the reader will find a faithful adherence 
to the design of the Gospel, a clear defence of those 
doctrines that are the pillar and ground of truth, a large 
compass of thought, a strong force of argument, and a 
happy flow of words, both judicious and familiar." 

The Rev. William Cudworth, pastor of an Inde- 
pendent Congregation, London, an intimate friend of Mr, 
Hervey, and author of " Aphorisms on the Assurance 
of Faith," when detailing his exercise with regard to the 
doctrine of grace, expresses his opinion in these words i 
" I learned that the Messrs. Erskine were upon this 
foundation, and therefore sought after all their sermons 
and writings I could get, and found them very precious 
to me,"* 



* Brown's Christian Experience, pp. 12, 13. 



490 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The encomium which the Rev. James Hervey 
himself pronounced on Ebenezer Erskine's discourses 
is well known. In the sixteenth Dialogue of his Theron 
and Aspasio, that pious and lively writer says in a 
note : — " Were I to read in order to refine my taste, or 
improve my style, I would prefer Bishop Atterbury's 
sermons, Dr. Bates' works, or Mr. Seed's discourses. 
But were I to read with a single view to the edification 
of my heart in true faith, solid comfort, and evangelical 
holiness, I would have recourse to Mr. Erskine, and 
take his volumes for my guide, my companion, and my 
familiar friend." 

Another clergyman of the Church of England, emi- 
nent for the strength of his intellect, and the extent of 
his learning, as well as for the ardour of his piety, — the 
Rev. Augustus Toplady, seems to have formed an 
equally favourable judgment of those volumes. Far 
from esteeming them " dry" and uninteresting, he feel- 
ingly acknowledges the great refreshment they were the 
means of imparting to his soul. Let two extracts from 
his Diary suffice.—" Friday, 22d Jan. 1768.— At 
night I spent three or four hours reading Erskine's ser- 
mons, particularly the following ones — 4 The rent vail 
of the temple,— The harmony of the Divine attributes, 
— The believer exalted in imputed righteousness,* — and 
Faith's plea on God's word and covenant.' The read- 
ing of these sweet discourses was wonderfully blessed 
to my soul. Great was my rejoicing and triumphing 
in Christ. The Lord was with me of a truth, and his 

* This is the subject of one of Mr. Ebenezer's Sermons. The 
other discourses specified in this first extract are by Ralph Er- 
skine. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 491 

gracious visitation revived my spirit. One moment's 
communion with Christ — one moment's view of interest 
in him is ineffable — inestimable." " Wednesday, VQth 
Feb. The Lord was very gracious to my soul this af- 
ternoon. His Spirit was the Comforter ; and Mr. 
[Ebenezer] Erskine's two sermons on the Rainbow of 
the Covenant were the channel through which that 
comfort was conveyed."* 

The sermons of both the Erskines are also mention- 
ed in very respectful terms by the late Dr. Wil- 
liams in his Preacher, in a list of books on Theology, 
which he recommends to students and ministers ; and 
by the venerable and candid Dr. John Erskine, of 
Edinburgh, in a note that occurs in the first volume of 
his Sermons. 

To these respectable authorities, which are in no de- 
gree liable to the imputation of that partiality which 
private friendship or close ecclesiastical connection is 
apt to create, we may subjoin the sentiments expressed 
by two worthy ministers, more intimately connected 
with the writer whose works they recommend. The 
one is the late Rev. Archibald Hall of Lon- 
don, who, in his "Treatise on the Faith and Influ- 
ence of the Gospel," makes the following acknowledg- 
ment : " It is with particular pleasure that the author 
embraces this opportunity of acknowledging his vast 
obligations to Mr. Ebenezer Erskine's sermons on 6 the 
Assurance of Faith/ and to Mr. Hervey's Theron and 
Aspasio, Dial. 16. He wishes the reader would care- 
fully peruse these excellent performances in order to 
direct and enlarge his views."f 



• Toplady's Works, vol. i. pp. 37-40. f Pa ge 311. Note. 



492 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The other individual to whom we refer, is that able 
and eloquent man, the late Rev. Robert Campbell, 
who having succeeded Ebenezer and James Erskine in 
the pastoral charge of the Associate Congregation, 
Stirling, ministered long and faithfully amongst that 
numerous flock. In a sensible and pious letter, which 
he wrote to Mrs. Fisher, Glasgow, in the year 1768, 
immediately after his recovery from a dangerous ill- 
ness, he gives an account of his own experience during 
his affliction ; and having mentioned the comfort im- 
parted to him by means of that gracious declaration, 
"I am the Lord thy God," he adds,— "Your father's 
sermon upon this comprehensive promise hath been 
very pleasant to me since I came home ; and if he said 
it was the best sermon ever he preached, I am very 
sure I can say that to me it is the best of all his ser- 
mons, or of any other sermons that ever I read. What 
good Mr. Hervey says of the 14th chapter of Hosea, I 
would, with the proper limitation, be ready to say of 
this excellent sermon, 6 that it not only deserves a place 
in our memories, but ought to be engraven upon the 
fleshly tables of our hearts.' It shall often be my com- 
panion while I live."* 

His sermons were almost the only publications of 
which Mr. Erskine was exclusively the author. We 
have seen, however, that he was employed to prepare 
the Representation to the Assembly respecting the con- 
demnation of the Marrow, and the first sketch of the 
" Answers to the Twelve Queries ;"f and that he pub- 

* Extracted from the original. Part of this Letter, however, 
is inserted in the Ch. Monitor, vol. i. pp. 674-5. 
f See page 236. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 493 



lished a small pamphlet, entitled " The True State of 
the Question, &c."* Very possibly he compiled also 
another pamphlet, to which frequent references are 
made in the 8th Chapter of this work — " The True 
State of the Process against Mr. Ebenezer Erskine," 
&c. He appears to have at least borne a part in com- 
posing the " Reasons for not acceding to the Established 
Church," published by " the Protesting Ministers" in 
1734. f The " Act of the Associate Presbytery con- 
cerning the Doctrine of Grace," enacted, October 21, 
1742, was the fruit of the united labour of Mr. Er- 
skine, and the Rev. Alexander MoncriefF.J " This 
work, though it may sometimes perplex by its numerous 
divisions, and its technical phraseology, yet contains an 
able exposition and vindication of the doctrine of Scrip- 
ture,'^ on a variety of interesting points, connected 
with the Marrow controversy, and, at the same time, 
immediately affecting the experience, comfort, and 
practice of the Christian. The only other production 
which remains to be mentioned, is that large and in- 
structive explanation of the Shorter Catechism, usually 
called " The Synod's Catechism." From its preface, 
dated February 1753, it appears that materials having 
been collected by a number of ministers, the two Er- 

* See page 447. 
This opinion is founded on the circumstance that we have in 
our possession, a Manuscript by Mr. Erskine in his own short- 
hand characters, consisting of four closely written quarto pages, 
entitled " Some Reasons for not acceding to the Judicatories of 
the Church of Scotland, notwithstanding what was done by ih% 
last Assembly, and the Synod of Perth." 

J Gospel-Truth, p. 63. 

§ See Testimony of the Unit. Ass. Syn. pp. 55-58. where " a 
brief outline" is given of this work. 



494 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



skines and Mr. Fisher were requested by the Synod to 
revise them, and that all the three were concerned in 
composing the first part of that work. The leisure 
hours of two aged brothers, standing on the verge of 
eternity, whose lives had been devoted to the study and 
diffusion of the glorious Gospel, could scarcely have 
been employed in a service more appropriate, or more 
signally conducive to the interests of truth and god- 
liness.* Many are the impressions which that Cate- 
chism has undergone ; and though its utility might be 
increased by a judicious attempt to simplify its sen- 
tences, — it will long continue, we trust, to be highly 
valued, and extensively perused. 

To gratify the reasonable expectations of the reader, 
we shall now lay before him a short account of Mr. Er- 
skine's family and descendants. 

Alison Turpie, his first wife, became the mother, 
it will be recollected, of ten children ; four of whom, — 
three sons and one daughter, died in childhood at Port- 
moak.f Of the remaining six, two were sons— Eben- 
ezer and David, and four were daughters. 

Ebenezer, the eldest son, who attained the age of 
manhood, is respectfully mentioned in the Portmoak 
manuscript as a great acapt in the art of short-hand 
writing. Whether his proficiency in the more essential 
branches of a liberal education equalled his progress in 
stenography, we cannot positively say ; but in the year 

* The writer happens to possess part of the original materials 
for the Catechism, prepared in short-hand characters by both 
brothers. Those written by Ebenezer extend from the 8th to 
the 28th Question ; those by Ralph from the 76th to the 95th. 

f See pages 305-6. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



495 



1733 he betook himself to a seafaring life. We have 
seen a well-written letter from him to his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Fisher, dated " Deal, August 21, 1733," when 
commencing a voyage to a distant part of the globe. 
He acknowledges a letter which he had just received 
from his father, and affectionately requests the prayers 
of his relatives. He expresses strong apprehensions of 
the perils awaiting him at sea and in foreign climes ; 
and these appear to have been too well justified by the 
event ; for, so far as we know, he was not spared to re- 
turn to his native country. 

David was a young man of excellent character and 
good capacity ; and distinguished himself at the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh by his attainments in literature, 
philosophy, and theology. Referring to him, one of 
the most noted of his father's ecclesiastical opposers 
is reported to have said, " That fanatic has a son, who 
will one day prove a bright ornament to the Church 
of Scotland." But owing partly, it was believed, to the 
ardour with which he prosecuted the study of some of 
the abstruser sciences, and partly to the excitement oc- 
casioned by the keen interest he took in the Cambus- 
lang work, his nervous system lost some portion of its 
vigour, and his attention was, in consequence, directed 
to pursuits less momentous than those he had originally 
in view. For several years he resided in the vicinity 
of Morpeth, and employed himself in the instruction of 
youth. He stood much indebted to the generous at- 
tentions of his nephew, Mr. Ralph Fisher. We have 
perused, with great pleasure, a series of letters which, 
during the course of a long correspondence, he wrote 
to his sister Mrs. Scott ; from whom he received many 
tokens of kind affection. His remarks discover consi- 



496 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



derable humour and acuteness, as well as devotional 
feeling, and are often strikingly expressed. He was 
an infant, we find, under the care of a nurse in spring 
1718 ; and died at Edinburgh, in a good old age, about 
the year 1800. 

The four daughters who reached maturity, seem to 
have all profited by parental instruction and example ; 
and were all respectably and happily married. 

Jean, the eldest, was born about the year 1706. On 
the 4th July, 1727, she was married at Portmoak, by 
her uncle Ralph, to the Rev. James Fisher, and lived 
till December 1771. 

Mr. Fisher, according to his own account in a fa- 
• mily register before us, was the second son of the Rev. 
Thomas Fisher, " minister first at Barr, in the Presby- 
tery of Ayr, then at Rhynd, near Perth, and Susanna 
Menzies." He was born at Barr, Saturday, Jan. 23, 
1697." He received license from the Presbytery of 
Perth ; and at the beginning of the year 1726, he was 
ordained minister of the parish of Kinclaven, in the 
Presbytery of Dunkeld. He gave early proofs of his 
zeal for evangelical truth and religious liberty. He 
was one of six ministers, who first held private meetings 
to confer about adopting proper means to stem the tor- 
rent of defection, and resolved on presenting the im- 
portant Representation and Petition, subscribed at last 
by forty-two ministers and three elders, and laid on the 
Assembly's table in 1732.* Actuated not merely by 

* We have learned this fact from a passage in Mr. Wilson's 
Diary, cited by Mr. Ferrier in his Memoirs, p. 176. The other 
five Brethren referred to were, the Rev. Messrs. Wilson of Perth, 
Gillespie of Strathmiglo, Laing of Newburgh, M'lntosh of Er- 
rol, Moncrieff of Abernethy. 



THE REV* EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



497 



personal attachment to his father-in-law, but by an en- 
lightened sense of duty, he gave him, as we have seen, 
his warm and steady support ; and actively concurred 
with him in the various measures resorted to by the 
Associate Brethren. Having received a unanimous 
call to the Congregation of Shuttle Street,* Glasgow, 
he was translated from Kinclaven, and admitted mini- 
ster of that congregation in October 8, 1741. His able 
ministrations and exemplary conduct raised him to high 
estimation, not only with his people, but among persons 
of every rank and denomination in Glasgow. He had 
the satisfaction also to see, that, notwithstanding his re- 
moval from his first charge, a meeting-house was soon 
erected at Kinclaven, and frequented by a respectable 
congregation. Mr. Fisher was chosen Clerk to the 
Associate Presbytery at its first meeting at the Bridge 
of Gairney, and continued to hold that office for a se- 
ries of years. In 1749, also, as was formerly stated, 
two years after the breach, he was appointed Professor 
of Divinity, when the state of Mr. Erskine's health 
obliged him to resign that important office.f In this 
capacity he acquitted himself with great fidelity, and 
gave universal satisfaction, till the year 1764, in which, 
being compelled by bodily infirmities to give it up, he 
was succeeded by the Rev. John Swanston of Kinross. 
Messrs. John Patison, Edinburgh ; James Erskine, and 
Rohert Campbell, Stirling ; John Brown, Haddington ; 
Archibald Hall, London ; Alexander Shanks, Jed- 
burgh ; John Low, Biggar ; William Arnot, Kennoway ; 
and many other respected ministers, attended Mr. Fish- 
er's Theological class. In the year 1771, Mr. George 



Now Grey Friars. 



f See the close of chap. ix. 



498 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



Henderson, a gifted, pious, and amiable young man, 
was ordained his assistant and successor in his pastoral 
charge. Mr. Fisher died on the 28th Sept. 1775, in 
the 79th year of his age and the 50th of his ministry. 
He was the youngest of the four Brethren, and sur- 
vived the other three a considerable time. Possessing 
excellent talents, he exercised them with unwearied di- 
ligence. Alluding, probably, to his clearness of judg- 
ment and vivacity of manner, as well as to his unaffect- 
ed piety and spirituality of mind, his friend Mr. Wil- 
son said of him, " Our neighbour Mr. Fisher has the 
face of an eagle"* Mr. Andrew Swanston, after hear- 
ing him preach at Glasgow in his old age, observed to 
an acquaintance, that * neither as to sentiment, compo- 
sition, nor delivery, had he ever heard his superior." 
Mr. Shanks, too, spoke warmly of his Professor, and 
eulogized the fluency and accuracy with which he ex- 
pressed his ideas, not only in the pulpit, but on all oc- 
casions. We have seen a number of his letters to 
friends, and to several members of his family, which 
breathe a truly pious, faithful, and affectionate spirit. 
Not to mention his controversial pamphlets, he pub- 
lished a number of occasional sermons, as one preached 
at Fenwick, from Prov. xxiii. 23 ; a discourse on 
preaching Christ, delivered at the ordination of Mr. 
James Mair, at West Linton, 29th May 1740 ; and one 
on " the character of a faithful minister of Christ,' ' 
preached at Stirling, immediately after the ordination 
of the Rev. James Erskine, and commonly inserted 
among the sermons of Ebenezer Erskine. We should 
notice also his Prefaces to the Works of both the Er- 



* Mem. of the Rev. W. Wilson, p. 357. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



499 



skines, and the prominent part he held in composing 
the Synod's Catechism, — particularly the second part, 
which, from that circumstance, is very often styled 
Fisher s Catechism.* 

Mrs. Fisher s conduct, in riper years, seems to have 
corresponded with her dutiful behaviour, in early life, 
to her father and mother, and with the pleasing hopes 
they entertained.^ We have seen two letters address- 
ed by her to one of her daughters, which are strongly 
expressive of humility and Christian resignation, under 
the various bereavements and trials she experienced. 
She gave birth to no less than fifteen children, of whom 
Susanna, the oldest, was born May 17, 1728, and 
Anne, the youngest, May 20, 1749. The greater part 
of them were cut off at an early age, by the diseases 
incident to childhood. Her son, Ebenezer Fisher, a 
twin, and the second so named, was born at Kinclaven, 
Jan. 8, 1739, and died in the prime of life at Newbern, 
North Carolina, Aug. 18, 1767. Ralph was born at 
Glasgow, March 12, 1743, and died at Belfast, Ireland, 
on his way home from Jamaica, in the year 1792. 

The daughters of this family, who came of age, in- 
herited their mother's virtues, and proved blessings to 
their husbands and to society. Jean married the Rev. 
James Erskine, Stirling, in January 1754, but lost her 
much-loved husband in 1761, and was herself removed 
by death, at Glasgow, May 2, 1762. Alison was united 
with the Rev. Robert Campbell, Stirling, but departed 
this life a short time after marriage. Mary gave her 
hand to Mr. John Gray, Printer, Edinburgh, an excel- 

* See Appendix, No. XII. 

t Compare pages 156-7, 280-1, 290. 



500 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



lent man, but died three months after the birth of her 
only child Erskine Gray. This child, when only about 
seven years old, had also the unhappiness to lose her 
father ; but she experienced the care of Him who is 
" the orphan's stay," and, by the grace of God, became 
a very excellent and amiable female. In the year 1793 
she married the Rev. Ebenezer Brown, Inverkeithing ; 
and after signally exemplifying " the meekness of wis- 
dom" as a Christian, a wife, and a mother, she died 
happily, Jan. 13, 1821.* 

We ought also to notice other two daughters of Mr. 
and Mrs. Fisher, whose descendants are well known in 
Glasgow ; — Margaret, who married Walter E wing Mac- 
lae, Esq. of Cathkin ; and Anne, the second wife of the 
late William Wardlaw, Esq. mother of a large family, 
including that celebrated Preacher and Author, the 
Rev. Dr. Ralph Wardlaw. 

Margaret, another daughter of Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine, was married, Nov. 8, 1736, to Mr. James 
Wardlaw, Dunfermline ;f but, according to a memoran- 
dum in Mr. Ralph Erskine's Diary, she died, " much 
lamented," Sept. 6, 1737. She fell a victim to a fever, 
which seized her soon after she had borne a female 
child, who survived her mother a very short time. 

Anne appears to have resided at Dunfermline, with 
her uncle Ralph, during the period of his widowhood. 
She gave her hand, probably, about the year 1740, to 
Mr. James Jaffray, bookseller, Stirling; and having 

* An interesting account of Mrs. Brown appeared in the 
Christ. Monitor, vol. ii. pp. 242-8. 
•f Compare 461. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 501 

lost her husband in October 1756, she seems, chiefly 
in order to facilitate personal intercourse with her be- 
loved sister Mrs. Scott, to have removed soon after to 
Kelso. She had no children, and survived Mr. Jaffray, 
probably, only a few years. Her letters to Mrs. Scott, 
a number of which we have read, discover ardent piety, 
a lively spirit, and a benevolent heart. 

Alison, the youngest, we believe, of Ebenezer's 
four daughters by the first marriage, was united about 
the close of the year 1745, to the Rev. James Scott, 
Gateshall. 

Mr. Scott was ordained minister of the Associate 
Congregation of that place, May 13, 1742, and lived 
till February 6, 1773. During the whole course of his 
ministry, he was never once disabled by affliction for 
the public services of the Lord's Day, except on the 
three Sabbaths immediately preceding his death. He 
discharged the public and private duties of his office 
with great care and fidelity. His brethren esteemed 
him a man " of ingenuous simplicity, incapable of dis- 
guising his sentiments." Notwithstanding the differ- 
ence of opinion between him and Mrs. Scott, regarding 
the subject of controversy which agitated and rent the 
Secession Church in 1747, he never ceased to act the 
part of a most affectionate and attentive husband. The 
year after his death, a small volume of his discourses, 
in 12mo, was published with this title, " A Collection 
of Sermons on various important and interesting sub- 
jects." The sermons are characterized by purity of 
evangelical sentiment, and scriptural simplicity of die* 
tion. An " advertisement" is prefixed, containing a 
short account of the author. His Note-books, which 



502 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



are still in the hands of his descendants, are all very 
neatly and carefully written. 

Mrs. Scott survived her husband forty years. Hav- 
ing reached the great age of ninety-four years and a 
half, she died at the house of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. 
William Scott, Edinburgh, January 13, 1814. She 
was a woman of eminent piety, and of uncommon re- 
solution. Her letters to her sister Mrs. Jaffray, and 
others, breathe much of the Christian temper. Her 
veneration for her father's memory was singularly 
great ; and she seems, in particular, to have emulated 
his firm and constant dependence on the faithful pro- 
mises of God. During a certain juncture at the be- 
ginning of this century, when a French invasion was 
generally dreaded, she happened to be in company with 
a number of ladies, who began, with a sorrowful coun- 
tenance, to express themselves in a tone of most dis- 
tressing apprehension regarding the consequences of 
that deprecated event ; but after listening for a little to 
their melancholy language, she proceeded to reprove 
their immoderate solicitude and timidity, saying, 
" Come, my ladies, lay aside your unbelieving fears, 
remember that the Lord reigns." The following anec- 
dote also manifests decision of character as well as a 
sense of religion. At one time she found herself among 
a party of gentlemen, by whom the worldly circum- 
stances of ministers becoming the topic of conversation, 
remarks were thrown out, of which she could not ap- 
prove. For a considerable while she said nothing, but 
at last opening her mouth with a dignified air and a 
decided tone, she put them all to silence with these 
words, " Well, you may say what you please concern- 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 



503 



ing the situation of ministers, but, let me tell you, that 
a minister of the Gospel holds a more honourable office 
than a minister of State" Having lived by the faith 
of the Son of God, and continued to the last to adorn 
her profession, she bade a final adieu to the scenes of 
time, expressing a sure and triumphant hope of the 
" house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' 1 
mentioned in the 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians, which 
was read to her about 9 o'clock in the morning, a lit- 
tle before her decease. 

She had three sons. Ebenezer the eldest died at an 
early age, in August 1756. William Scott of Ashie- 
burn, the second, died in Edinburgh, August 1807. 
The third son, named also Ebenezer, was for many 
years a respectable medical practitioner in Dalkeith, 
and departed this life at that town April 27, 1828, 
leaving a married daughter and four sons, the eldest of 
whom, Mr. James Scott, accountant, Edinburgh, died 
the 5th March, 1830. 

We do not certainly know the precise number of 
Mr. Erskine's children by his second wife. She had 
two sons, James and Alexander, who died abroad ; the 
first about the year 1770, and the second in 1779« 
From a memorandum, written by their father in a 
Note-book, in May 1728, it appears that three daugh- 
ters of the second marriage were living at that time, — 
Mary, Helen, and Rachel. Mary, however, was the 
only one of them that reached maturity. She possess- 
ed a cheerful and lively temper. After her mother's 
death she kept her father's house, and, during his last 
affliction, waited on him in a dutiful and affectionate 



504 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



manner. She was never married, and died at Glas* 
gow about the year 1786. 

These slight notices of Mr. Erskine's family are fit- 
ted to remind us of the encouraging declarations and 
promises of Scripture respecting the children of the 
pious. Though, in modern as well as ancient times, 
the soundest instructions and the brightest examples 
are sometimes frustrated by the power of depravity, 
and by the snares of the devil and the world, the con- 
scientious and prudent efforts of Christian parents for 
the spiritual welfare of their offspring are generally 
blessed to a greater or less extent. The descendants 
of the faithful cannot abandon the ways of wisdom 
without involving themselves in aggravated guilt and 
ruin. But " the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 
to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righte- 
ousness unto children's children ; to such as keep his 
covenant, and remember his commandments to do 
them."* 



To illustrate, particularly, the practical lessons which 
these Memoirs suggest, would be tedious and quite su- 
perfluous. It may suffice, in conclusion, very briefly 
to notice a few of the most important. 

The undoubted instances of vital religion we have 
been contemplating in Henry Erskine of Chirnside and 
his son Ebenezer, may serve to show its reality and va- 
lue, and to recommend it to people of every rank and 
occupation. The manifest and salutary influence of 
personal piety on the official conduct and the comfort 

• Psalm ciii. 17, 18. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 505 

of the Christian Pastor, under varied circumstances of 
difficulty and trial, should induce all who are invested 
with the ministry, or candidates for that office, to make 
it their first concern to cultivate real godliness in their 
own souls. 

" The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." 
The bare knowledge or profession of Christianity, se- 
parate from a living faith and a praying heart, is utterly 
insufficient to prepare any man for performing accep- 
table service to Christ, either in a public or a private 
sphere. Nor should we deem it enough to admit, or 
even to be seriously impressed with those doctrines 
which relate generally to the existence and Providence 
of God, moral obligation, and the solemn realities of a 
future state. The worth of evangelical principles, in 
opposition to erroneous tenets, by which the glory of 
the Saviour, the necessity of his atonement, the agency 
of his Spirit, and the freeness of his grace, are denied 
or obscured, ought to be justly appreciated and deeply 
felt. 

The details that have been given point out the im- 
portance of an open avowal of the truth, and of a firm 
adherence to its interest. To rest satisfied with that 
exact form and measure of piety which we are pleased 
to consider sufficient to secure our own salvation, is to 
act an ungenerous and dishonourable part, at variance 
alike with the gratitude we owe to the Saviour, and the 
benevolence due to mankind. Even an enlightened 
regard to our own safety will prompt us to " contend 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," to 
I confess Christ before men," and to « follow the Lamb 
whithersoever he goeth." 

The tender and unceasing care which God exercises 
z 



506 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



towards his Church is calculated at once to excite our 
gratitude, and to animate our faith. " Is not Jehovah 
in Zion? Is not her king in her?" Is it not establish- 
ed by many signal displays of his power and grace, that 
he can rebuke the spirit of error and delusion, control 
the rage of tyranny, and effect deliverance for his peo- 
ple, when oppressed, and almost overwhelmed by the 
power of the enemy ? In the darkest and most inaus- 
picious times, when all hope of relief appears to be cut 
off, He, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, pro- 
vides adequate instruments to plead the cause of Zion 
with integrity and zeal, and crowns their efforts with 
success. 

The acknowledged imperfections from which the 
most faithful witnesses and reformers are not exempt, 
should induce us to ascribe entirely to God the glory 
of every seasonable appearance in defence of the truth, 
and of every successful exertion put forth in behalf of 
the privileges and liberties of the Christian Church. 
We must learn, at the same time, to call no man Mas- 
ter : " One is your Master, even Christ." Whilst we 
maintain the grand doctrines for which our worthy an- 
cestors contended, and imitate what was best in their 
temper and demeanour, it becomes us to see that we 
neither adopt their misconceptions, nor copy their 
faults and defects. Avoiding equally a blind venera- 
tion for antiquity and a prurient fondness for novelty, 
we should " prove all things" by the infallible standard 
of holy writ, and strive to go forward in the career of 
improvement. 

The Secession Church is peculiarly called to ponder 
well the responsibility connected with the advantages 
which Divine Providence has afforded, by means of the 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 507 

faithfulness, wisdom, and fortitude, displayed by its 
founders. Its members should universally feel the 
powerful ties by which they are bound, not only to hold 
fast the truths and ordinances of Christ, but to exert 
themselves in the noble work of diffusing his glorious 
Gospel, both at home and abroad. Whatever they 
have done in this cause individually, and in subser- 
viency to the designs of various religious and benevo- 
lent societies, their zeal and activity, it must be con- 
fessed, at least in their capacity as a distinct and or- 
ganized Church, have not hitherto been equal to their 
obligations and opportunities. Let them hail the pre- 
sent appearances of generous ardour breaking forth 
among them, and be careful to fan the sacred flame, 
that from them " the word of the Lord may sound out" 
in every direction. By their prayers, contributions, 
and varied efforts, let them emulate the Moravian 
Brethren, and some other churches, that have gone be- 
fore them in this great work, and highly to their own 
credit and spiritual advantage, used prompt and active 
endeavours to communicate light to them that sit in 
darkness, and in the region and shadow of death. The 
importance of missionary enterprises having been now 
so clearly shown, and their practicability and useful- 
ness so palpably demonstrated to the Christian world, 
what church, that fails to distinguish itself by its mis- 
sionary spirit and exertions, can be expected to pros- 
per under the smiles of Heaven, or to share in the re- 
freshing dews from above ? 

While the churches of the Secession pursue mea- 
sures subservient either to their own increase, or to 
the general propagation of Christian knowledge, they 
should, without question, beware of declining from that 



508 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



high tone of moral and religious feeling by which they 
were once characterized. Were they to lose in purity 
what they gain in extension, their apparent prosperity 
would soon prove illusive. Owing chiefly, we believe, 
to precipitance and rivalry, several false and aggravated 
representations of the decay of piety among Seceders 
have been published and industriously circulated. But 
whatever cause there may be to deplore the deadness 
and lukewarmness with which many churches have 
been seized, and which the Secession has not escaped, 
we could appeal to a variety of recent facts and docu- 
ments, which afford satisfactory evidence that the Spi- 
rit of grace has not yet abandoned the ministers and 
members of that Church ; and that, with regard at least 
to a goodly portion of their number, their religion has 
not dwindled away to a lifeless orthodoxy, or an empty 
form. It is their necessary duty, meanwhile, to keep 
always a conscience void of offence, and, " by well-doing, 
to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." 

" It must needs be that offences come." Owing to 
the imperfection of the most sincere, and the intermix- 
ture of nominal professors, occasional scandals may be 
looked for in every society. The office-bearers of the 
Secession Church, however, will endeavour, it is hoped, 
by the vigorous and impartial exercise of scriptural dis- 
cipline, to encourage the good, to check the presump- 
tuous, and to maintain the purity of Divine institutions. 
Some alterations may, no doubt, take place in the mode 
of discipline, while its spirit is upheld, and its essential 
rules are enforced. But when such remissness shall 
prevail in any church, that the most distinguishing pri- 
vileges of its membership are granted aud continued to 
the visibly unworthy- — when persons, living in open sin, 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKIXE. 



509 



are permitted to pass without admonition or rebuke, or 
still higher censure, as circumstances may require ; 
then, indeed, on the walls of its temples, however splen- 
did their appearance, and however numerous the wor- 
shippers, this inscription may justly be written, " Icha- 
bod; the glory is departed." " Know ye not/' says the 
Apostle Paul, " that a little leaven leaveneth the whole 
lump ?"* 

" I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord," says the 
same inspired writer, " beseech you, that ye walk wor- 
thy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all 
lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing 
one another in love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace."f This is an exhor- 
tation highly deserving the attention of ministers and of 
Christians at large. Oh ! that the line of conduct it in- 
culcates were uniformly pursued, not only within the 
limits of the United Secession Church, but in every 
church. Were a liberal portion of the spirit so patheti- 
cally recommended by the Apostle, to animate and go- 
vern them, the different bodies, at least of Presbyterian 
Dissenters in Scotland, one should think, might, with- 
out any compromise of principle, be happily united. 
Or if a strict ecclesiastical union be deemed impracti- 
cable or inexpedient, brotherly intercourse, and co- 
operation with respect to points in which they are 
agreed, might certainly be practised among them to a 
still greater extent. 

Is it not also exceedingly desirable that evangelical 
ministers of the National Church, and of the various 



* 1 Cor. v. 6. 



t Ephes. iv. 1-3. 



510 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



Dissenting communities, should increasingly cultivate 
those mutual regards which would lead them at once 
to promote each other's good, and to exhibit a pattern 
conducive to the advancement of all that is holy, and 
of all that is lovely, amongst the people of every class ? 
The propriety of legal establishments of religion being 
a point not immediately connected with the tenor of 
this publication, — it was not intended either to vindi- 
cate or to decry them. The writer would only take the 
liberty, with all becoming deference, to say, that, while 
this is a legitimate subject of discussion, the contending 
parties will do credit to themselves by avoiding, in the 
agitation of the controversy, that excessive keenness, 
and those personal invectives, which could only prove 
injurious to the interests of the common faith. 

While truth is exalted, let envy and bigotry be cru- 
cified. It belongs to the clergy of Established churches 
to shun those indications of arrogance, of which they 
have been sometimes accused. The time is gone by> 
in which the clergymen of the Church of Scotland can 
hope to advance their own reputation and influence, 
by disparaging the qualifications or condition of Dis- 
senting ministers, or by denouncing the Secession as an 
" alarming evil," and a " schism/' that has a " threat- 
ening aspect to the interests of religion."* The minis- 
ters of the Secession may be expected, on their part, 
to avoid, and, we trust, with few exceptions, do avoid, 
that unchristian harshness, which would induce them, 
indiscriminately, to condemn the Established clergy as 
" hirelings," incapable, from their situation, of faith- 

* These expressions are quoted from the " Schism Overture" 
adopted by the General Assembly 1765. — See the Scots Maga- 
zine for that year. 



THE REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE. 511 

fully discharging their office. Is it not far more be- 
coming to manifest respect and affection for pious and 
evangelical ministers, connected with the National 
church, and to rejoice in every appearance of the in- 
crease of their numbers and influence ? To whatever 
conclusion we are warranted to come on the abstract 
question of establishments, few will deny that the Esta- 
blished Church of Scotland, notwithstanding all its 
faults, is probably the best institution of the kind in the 
world. Since the first seceding ministers withdrew 
from it, not because it was established by law, but be- 
cause its affairs were corruptly administered, may not 
their successors be expected to sigh for a happy refor- 
mation, not for a total overthrow, of the National 
church ? 

Persons may believe that the magistrate has no just 
title to that exorbitant power and mastery in the con- 
cerns of the Church which he has often assumed, whilst 
they hesitate to affirm, that circumstances can never oc- 
cur, in which, as a civil ruler, he can warrantably exer- 
cise any power at all, beyond the meanest of the people. 
It is one thing to say, that legal establishments are by 
no means necessary to the stability and prosperity of the 
Christian religion, or even that, in general, they have 
been so injudiciously formed and conducted, as rather 
to injure than subserve its interests ; but quite another 
thing to assert, that a legal establishment of any sort, 
and under any limitations, is utterly unjust and inex- 
pedient in all countries, and in every possible conjunc- 
ture. This last assertion, I freely confess, I am not 
yet prepared to make. I may have neglected to in- 
vestigate the subject so closely and impartially as its 
importance requires. But how incompetent soever to 



512 



LIFE AND DIARY, &C. 



act the part of an umpire in this momentous con- 
test, and however apt to shrink from the task, I cannot 
help seizing the present opportunity of expressing my 
earnest wish that ministers and other followers of Christ, 
though differing from each other in their sentiments on 
this question, and though, in some respects, separated 
by corresponding institutions, would make conscience 
of cherishing that cordial and forbearing love for one 
another, which is the distinguishing badge of Christ- 
ianity ; and exemplify, in their conduct, " how good and 
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity." " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
hand forget her cunning. — For my brethren and com- 
panions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee ; 
because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek 
thy good." 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. — Page 4. 

The earldom of Mar or Marr is one of those whose origin is 
lost in antiquity. Martacus, the first Earl of Mar mentioned 
by Douglas, flourished during the reign of Malcolm Canmore, 
1065. Erskine became the name of the family, in consequence 
of the marriage of Janet Keith, grand-daughter of Gratney, the 
eleventh Earl, with Sir Thomas Erskine ; whose only son, Sir 
Robert Erskine, justly claimed the earldom in the year 1435, 
though the peaceable possession of it was not secured till 1567. 
This Sir Thomas belonged to an ancient and distinguished fa- 
mily, which for many ages possessed the barony of Erskine on 
the Clyde, in the county of Renfrew. Henricus de Erskine was 
proprietor of that barony at the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
tury. 

The Erskines of Shielfield are the descendants of David Er- 
skine, Commendator of Dryburgh, son of Robert, Master of 
Erskine, who was killed at the battle of Pinkie on the 10th Sep. 
1547, and nephew of John, Earl of Mar, who was chosen Re- 
gent of Scotland in the year 1571. 

Antiquaries give different accounts of the origin of the name 
Erskine. According to some, it was derived from the lands of 
the barony which has just been mentioned. But others relate 
the following story respecting it. In the reign of Malcolm II. 
a Scotsman, having killed with his own hand Enrique, a Danish 



516 



APPENDIX. 



General, at the battle of Murthill, cut off his head, and, with 
the bloody dagger in his hand, showed it to the king, (in the 
Gaelic Eris Skyne ;) and in the same language said, " I intend 
to perform greater actions than those I have done." Malcolm, 
therefore, imposed on him the surname of Erskine, i. e. the man 
with the dagger, and assigned for his armorial bearing a hand 
holding a dagger, with Je pense plus for a motto — still the crest 
and motto of the family. 

Erskine, in common with many other names, has been va- 
riously spelt. In some ancient documents, it was written Iris- 
kyn ; in others, Harskyne. Douglas states that Charles Erskine, 
who was made Lord of Session in 1742, and took the title of Lord 
Tinwald, usually spelt his name Areskine. The same mode of 
spelling seems to have been commonly practised in the family, 
till about 1720. In this manner at least, the name was spelt by 
the minister of Chirnside, and also for some time by his sons. 
Ebenezer and Ralph latterly wrote Erskine, which appears now 
to be the mode universally adopted. 

However unimportant the connection of these clergymen with 
the house of Mar may or ought to be deemed, these few notices 
respecting it seemed to be proper. Whoever wishes to trace par- 
ticularly the history of that family may consult the Encyclopaedia 
Perthensis, Art. Erskine, written by the late Earl of Buchan ; 
the account of the Parish of Erskine, by the late Rev. Walter 
Young, F. R. S. E. in the Statistical Acc. of Scotland, Vol. ix. 
No. 5 ; and, above all, the circumstantial detail in Sir Robert 
Douglas's Peerage of Scotland. 



No. II.— Page 42. 

The Epitaph on Mrs. Henry Erskine's monumental stone is 
as follows ; a few words being omitted, which, on personal in- 
spection, we could not with certainty decipher. 



In spem beatae Resurrectionis, in 
Domino nostro Jesu Christo, Hie recondun- 
tur cineres selectissimae Foeminae 



APPENDIX. 



517 



Margarita Halcro, ex illustri et 
perantiqua stirpe, nempe, Domo de 
Halcro Orcadiensi, prognatae ; 
quondam Reverendo et admodum cele- 
berrimo viro, Domino Henrico Erskino 
ecclesiae Chirnsidensis pastori, fide- 
lissimo matrimonio conjunctae ; post 
cujus obi turn, per 39 fere annos perdu- 

ravit vidua. Erga 

Religio 

Liberorum provida, tandem . . . 
Felicissime in Christo obiit Jan. 14. 1725. 
aetatis suae 78. 
In piam gratitudinem . . . 
amantissimae et officiosissima? Parentis 
superstitis suae, Magister Ebenezer Erskinus 
Pastor Portmoachensis, et Mr. Rodolphus 
Erskinus Fermilodunensis, Monumen- 
tum hoc extruendum curaverunt. 
M. H. 



No. III.— Page 46. 

Mr. Crichton's Life of Col. Blackader contains three excellent 
letters from the Colonel to Mrs. Balderston. The quotation, 
p. 46, is from the first. In the second, bearing date " Busse, 
Nov. 7 j 1705," he informs her of his promotion to the rank of 
Major, and alludes to a number of texts of Scripture she had 
furnished him with for his encouragement amidst the perils with 
which he was surrounded. The third, dated " Stirling Castle, 
Dec. 5, 1720," is particularly interesting, being a letter of con- 
solation to Mrs. Balderston, on occasion of the death of her ex- 
cellent husband. See Life of C. Black, pp. 267-8, 511-514. 

It will gratify the pious reader to see the two following para- 
graphs — the last in her Diary. 

"June 28, 1737, was my birth-day. I had lain all night 



518 



APPENDIX. 



waking and saw day break. Then, the sun shining upon the 
wall of the room, I cried, c O that the Sun of Righteousness 
would arise and shine upon dead and dark me ;' and it was said 
unto me, [i. e. these words were brought to her remembranee, 
and impressed on her heart,] 6 Arise and shine, for thy light is 
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.' This was 
a sweet close of my fourscore and four, and a sweet beginning of 
my eighty-five. Nevertheless, the battle with Satan and unbe- 
lief began to vex me. But I am under the care of my dear and 
kind Lord, who has said he will never leave me nor forsake me ; 
but will perfect the good work that he has begun, and carried on 
such a length of time. Nothing have I to look to but his own 
faithfulness, which will not fail them that trust in him. While 
I am here I must look for a new battle ; but, blessed be his name, 
I am allowed to seek a new supply out of that inexhaustible ful- 
ness of God in Christ my Lord. This is my anchor hold sure 
and within the vail — at last will draw me home. Then I shall 
be ever with the Lord, which I long for — to behold his glory. 

a This is the third day of July, the Lord's day — Confined to 
my room through age and weakness. But my Lord is not con- 
fined, but can visit desolate widows, left of all earthly comfort. 
Then is his time to lift up, and carry through all difficulties. I 
have reason to bless Him, who breaks all idols to me. O come, 
Lord Jesus ; come, take thy own room in my soul, for I am 
thine. I know, he that hath said he will come, shall come, and 
will not tarry ; and hath said, 6 Behold, I come quickly*' Even 
so come. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus : and I set to my 
Amen. 

Jean Erskine." 



No. IV.— Page 57. 

Among the papers of the Rev. Ralph Erskine, we have found 
two sermons composed by his father, u written out of his book" 
about the year 1708. The following extract from one of them 
may serve as a slight specimen of his manner of preaching. 
Though it may not contain so full an exhibition of the ground 



APPENDIX. 



519 



of acceptance, or of the sinner's free access to the Saviour and 
his righteousness, as some of his other discourses probably did, 
it shows the zeal and earnestness with which Mr. Erskine of 
Chirnside endeavoured to reprove the ungodly, and awaken the 
secure. 

The subject of the discourse is Matt. v. 20. " For I say unto 
you, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." After giving a short account of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, and pointing out particularly in what respects our 
righteousness must be superior to theirs, he concludes with a close 
and faithful application : 

" This subject may be improved for fear and terror to those 
whose righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the 
Scribes and Pharisees. Seeing their righteousness cannot qualify 
for the kingdom of heaven, what shall become of those many 
millions of men and women that have none at all ? What shall 
become of those that live openly profane and avowedly unclean ? 
What shall become of those that are swearers, liars, drunkards, 
whoremongers, haters of religion ? What shall become of per- 
secutors and oppressors, of all railers and revilers, of all who 
spend their time and strength in the service of sin ? I tremble 
to think what a great part of mankind shall be shut up in the 
lowest hell, fettered in darkness, and chained in sorrow, burnt 
up with the violent flames of their own lusts, to all eternity. Be 
afflicted, and mourn and weep, ye that forget the Lord, lest he 
tear you in pieces when none can deliver. By a standing pur- 
pose and irresistible law, the gates of heaven are shut up against 
impenitent sinners. c They that do these things shall not in- 
herit the kingdom of heaven. Alas ! will you, like Esau, fool- 
ishly sell your birth-right, your freedom and interest in your 
Father's house ? Will you renounce the joys and immunities 
of heaven for the pleasures of sin that presently perish ? Con* 
sider that the gates of hell are open for all impenitent sinners. 
i Tophet is ordained of old ; yea, for the king it is prepared ; he 
hath made it deep and large ; the pile thereof is fire and much 
wood ; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth 
kindle it.' What do you think of it, to hear it told? And it 
is certain and true, as God is true, that except your righteous- 



520 



APPENDIX. 



ness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you 
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, but shall be thrown 
into hell, where the smoke of your torment shall ascend for ever 
and ever. This is sad indeed." 

He then proceeds, in the same rousing and searching strain, to 
specify a number of instances in which many who natter them- 
selves with hopes of heaven, come far short of the Scribes and 
Pharisees. The discourse ends with a pressing exhortation to 
the hearers to awake and bestir themselves ; to lay hold on eter- 
nal life ; and to give diligence to make their calling and election 
sure. 



No. V.— Page 69. 

The author has had the satisfaction to see a few of the manu- 
script volumes here alluded to. One of them is of considerable 
size, and is distinguished by these words on its title page ; " This 
Book belongs to me, Ebenezer Areskine, 1699, 1700, 1701, 
1702." Its contents are various, and a great proportion of it 
was written at later dates than the last of these years. His 
Diary at least, some account of which is given in Chap. iii. pp. 
174-177? was not begun till November 1707- Among its earlier 
materials, this volume comprises ample extracts from authors he 
had read, including Charnock's Discourses, Ferguson on the Ne- 
cessity of Christ's Satisfaction, Wilkin's Gift of Prayer, Polhill's 
Speculum Theologies, Echard's Ecclesiastical History, Howell's 
Elements of History from the Creation to Constantine the Great, 
Calamy's Caveat against the Camisarian Prophets, Turner on 
Providence, and Pierce's Defence of the Dissenters in England* 

The first hundred and eleven pages, however, are filled with 
the heads of about forty sermons he had heard ; most of which 
were preached on various occasions in Edinburgh, some in 1698-9, 
and one or two so early as 1694. These notes are all written in 
common hand ; but Mr. Erskine refers to his own short-hand 
books, from which they were abridged, and three of which we 
have seen, viz. " Books 5th, 6th, and 9th" — which appear to 
have been written at church while the discourses were being de- 



APPENDIX. 



521 



livered. "Book 5th," which, is in our possession, besides part 
of a Compend of Turretine's System, contains forty-five lectures 
and sermons apparently of that description. " Book 6th," dated 
March 28, 1700, contains forty-two sermons; and "Book 9th" 
consists chiefly of sermons preached at Leslie by Mr. Shaw dur- 
ing the years 1701-2. 

Among the clergymen, the substance of whose discourses he 
thus preserved, we find also the Rev. Messrs. Hastie of Glasgow ; 
Forrest, Stirling ; John Anderson, St. Andrews ; Thomas Black, 
Perth ; Thomas Halyburton, Ceres ; John Hunter, Ayr ; Currie, 
Haddington ; Clark, Dirleton ; Wiseheart, Leith ; — with the fol- 
lowing Ministers of Edinburgh, Dr. Gilbert Rule, Dr. George 
Campbell, and the Rev. Messrs. Crichton, Andrew, George 
Meldrum, George Hamilton, James Webster, John Moncrieff, 
John Law, James Grier. 

The Note-books which he wrote posterior to his ordination to 
the ministry, include passim the particulars of sermons by several 
ministers ; as by Mr. Mair of Culross, 1707 ; Mr. M'Gill of Kin- 
ross, 1709 ; Mr. Currie of Kinglassie, and his own brother Ralph, 
1713 ; and, to name no more — by Mr. Andrew Black of Cumber- 
nauld, at the ordination of the Rev. David Telford at Downe, 
Thursday, March 19, 1747- 



No. VI.— Page 187. 

In former times, the Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland 
were accustomed to make occasional visits to all the parishes con- 
nected with them respectively ; at which, after hearing a discourse 
by the minister of the parish visited, as a specimen of his usual ap- 
pearances in the pulpit, a series of questions were proposed to 
him, and then to the heritors, elders, and heads of families suc- 
cessively, with respect to the manner in which their several 
duties were discharged. In the year 1710, the parish of Port- 
moak received a Presbyterial visitation of this sort, the particu- 
lars of which are detailed in the Records of Presbytery. As the 
account throws light on the condition of the parish at that time, 
and confirms the truth of some circumstances stated in. the text 



522 



APPENDIX. 



regarding the minister's attention to his duty, we shall quote the 
greater part of it here. It is as follows : 

"At Portmoak Kirk, Sep 20, 1710. 
"After prayer, Sederunt, Mr. Thomas Russell, Modr. &c. 
According to appointment, the Presbytery met here this day ; 
and Mr. Erskine, minister of this Congregation, preached on 
that text, Ps. xxiii. 4 — being his ordinary, wherein he was ap- 
proven. Mr. Erskine was interrogated, 1. If he gave due inti- 
mation of this visitation to the Parish ? Answered, Yes. 2. If 
his Session -book be in readiness, in order to be revised ? An- 
swered, that the minutes are not yet filled up in the register. 
He was ordered to cause fill them up, to the end they may be 
revised. 3. If he preaches twice, and lectures, every Lord's 
day ? Answered, Yes. And if he hath week day's sermon f 
Answered, Yes, except in seed-time and harvest. 4. If he 
examines and visits the parish, and visits the sick ; and if he 
pray in families when he visits, and if he pray over the sick ? 
Answered, Yes. 5. If he intimates the Assembly's Act against 
profaneness ? Answered, he did read the same. 6. If he inti- 
mated the Act against the abuses by penny-weddings ? An- 
swered, Yes, and speaks to the people to be married thereanent, 
and preaches against these abuses. 7« If he reads the Synod's 
Act anent Testimonials, and if it be insert in their Session- 
book ? Answered, Yes. 8. If he administers the Sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper ? Answered, Yes, and that he has adminis- 
trate the same thrice, since [he] came to the congregation. 9. If 
all the parishioners attend the ordinances ? Answered, he can- 
not complain. 10. If all the elders attend the Session ? An- 
swered, Yes, except two, who have abandoned the same. 11. If 
they pray in their families ? Answered, he thinks so. 12. Are 
they grave, pious, and exemplary in their lives ? Answered, So 
far as he knows. 1$. Are they diligent, careful, and impartial 
in the exercise of their office ? Answered, Yes. 14. Do the 
elders call for testimonials from persons who come to reside in the 
parish ? Answered, He does it himself, as he goes through 
visiting. 15. Hoes the Session appoint a ruling elder to attend 
Presbyteries and Synods ? Answered, Yes — Mr. Areskine 
removed.. The Presbytery are well satisfied with his answers 



APPENDIX. 



523 



to the foresaid queries ; and being called in, this was intimated 
to him, and then removed. 

" The Heritors were called. Mr. Kirkaldy compeared for 
Sir Robert Douglas of Kirkness, Bailie Steidman for Sir John 
Bruce ; as also compeared Gospetrie, George Burrell, and seve- 
ral other Fewars in the paiish, who were interrogate, 1. If their 
minister gave timeous intimation of this visitation ? 2. If he 
has a Gospel-like conversation ? 3. If he keep close by his 
work ? 4. If he be careful of ministerial visits, and if he pray 
in families, when he visits ? 5. If he exercise discipline against 
delinquents ? To which queries they answered in the affirma- 
tive. . . . 

" The Elders were called. They compeared. These que- 
ries that were proposed to the Heritors were interrogate them* 

They answered ut supra [as above ;] and then they were in- 
quired if all the Elders attend the Session ? Answered, Yes, 
except two. The Elders removed. 

"The Masters of families were called. Such of them as 
compeared were interrogate ut supra. They answered, ut supra. 

" Mr. Areskine was called ; he compeared. He was interro- 
gate if he discoursed these elders who have abandoned the Ses- 
sion, why they did not attend the same ? Answered, there was 
a Committee of Session appointed to discourse them thereanent, 
as the minute of the Session bears " 

The passages omitted relate merely to the School-master's 
salary ; and to some necessary repairs of the Church and Manse,, 
which the Heritors consented to make. 



No. VII.— Page 193. 

The following is a copy, taken from the original Record of the 
Regulations for a praying Society at Portmoak, composed by Mr. 
Erskine in the year 1714. 

" 1. That upon the 15th and the last day of every month, we 
will meet together in order to the spending of some time in 
prayer and conference about things of a spiritual concern. 

2. That every one of us shall endeavour, through the strength 



524 



APPENDIX. 



of grace, to walk circumspectly as becometh the Gospel, and 
study to curb and restrain vice, and promote holiness and reli- 
gion, to our utmost power, in the station wherein God has placed 
us ; and, particularly, that we will maintain good order in the 
several families we pertain to, as far as we have access. 

3. If we observe any of the Society to fall into any sin, or to 
be guilty of any thing unsuitable to the Gospel, he that observes 
it shall, with Christian freedom, warn the party of it. And if 
he offend again in the same kind, the observer shall join with 
him one or two more to warn the same party ; and if he will not 
hear them, the observer, or any other, shall then acquaint the So- 
ciety at our next meeting, and if he will not hear them, he shall 
then be excluded out of the Society, and shall not be admitted 
again till the Society be satisfied anent his repentance and amend- 
ment ; and when received, it shall be done by a vote of the So- 
ciety. 

4. For order's cause we shall have a Moderator, to whom every 
member shall direct his discourse ; and who shall ask the judg- 
ment, and gather the votes of the Society. The Moderator to 
continue only for half a year, and then another to be chosen in 
his room. 

5. Every half year when the Moderator is chosen, we shall 
have our private censures ; wherein each member of the Society 
shall remove by turns, until the Moderator inquire at the several 
members, if they know any thing in the life and conversation of 
the member removed ; and, when called in, he shall be admonish- 
ed, reproved, or encouraged by the Moderator, as there is oc- 
casion. 

6. When any member is absent, he shall give his excuse at 
the next meeting ; and when any absent themselves, without 
reason, for several diets together, they shall be excluded from 
the Society. 

7. For admission into our Society, we shall not be too strict, 
nor too large. Not too strict, in refusing to admit any, in whom 
we have good hopes of sincerity, although they may be but weak 
in gifts. Nor too large, in admitting any who may be unsound 
in principle or in practice. 

8. If the Society shall increase to the number of , in that 

case we will divide ourselves into two Societies ; and in order to 



APPENDIX. 



525 



maintain unity, notwithstanding of this division, there shall be 
a general meeting upon the last day of every third month. 

9. Nothing shall be divulged that is spoken in the Society, 
which may in the least tend to the prejudice of the Society, or 
any member thereof. 

10. Every meeting shall he opened by prayer, and closed with 
singing and thanksgiving. 

11. The members of the Society shall pray by turns, according 
to the alphabetical order of their names ; and at every meeting 
three, and at most five or six, shall pray ; except when Providence 
calls for more than ordinary wrestling. 

12. At every meeting we resolve to read a portion of the 
Bible, and a chapter of the Confession of Faith, as subjects for 
discourse. . . . 

13. At every meeting there shall be a question proposed to be 
conferred about, the next meeting. This question may be either 
a head of practical divinity, a controverted point, a case of con- 
science, or a difficult place of Scripture. Any member may pro- 
pose the question ; and, in case none be started, the Moderator 
shall have one in readiness. 

14. What further orders [i. e. rules] we, or any member shall 
hereafter think upon, we shall propound the same to the Society ; 
and they shall be confirmed or annulled, as shall be agreed by a 
plurality of votes. 

15. These laws shall be read and subscribed by every new 
member that joins the Society ; and read openly to the whole 
members at every quarterly or general meeting." 

These Rules are dated Oct. 29, 1714, and subscribed by Mr. 
Erskine, Patrick Cockburn, Session Clerk, and other fifteen in- 
dividuals. The subsequent proceedings of the Society till Nov, 
29, 1767? are recorded in the same book with the rules. In trie 
year 1717? it was divided into two; and in the year 1732 there 
were five societies in the parish, which held an aggregate meet- 
ing once a year. 

Some of the regulations may be thought too rigid or minute. 
Several of them were obviously suggested by the ecclesiastical 
usages of the times. The 5th rule, for instance, accords with the 
practice of Privy Censures which prevailed then, and for about 
half a century after, in the Presbyteries of the Church of Scot- 



526 



APPENDIX. 



land ; and an allusion to which, the reader will observe in page 

363 These old regulations, however, may possibly afford some 

useful hints to those who contemplate the establishment, or re- 
vival of praying societies. 



No. VIII— Page 198. 

The Rev. William Mackie preached for some time prior to 
the Revolution, to a congregation of Presbyterians at Scotland- 
well in a small house built of stone and turf. Immediately 
after that event, he was admitted minister of the parish of 
Portmoak. In a minute of a conjunct meeting of the Pres- 
byteries of Kirkaldy and Dunfermline, held at Kirkaldy, July 
10, 1688, " Mr. William Mackie, Minister of Portmoak," is 
named as one of the members ; and it is stated that he was chosen 
Clerk. By his learning, ability, prudence, and exemplary con- 
duct, he had the happiness to attach the parishioners to his mi- 
nistry, so that very few wished to see Episcopacy restored. He 
was one of several ministers whom the General Assembly, about 
the year 1692, appointed to visit the northern Presbyteries of 
Scotland, in order to bring them into due submission to the 
Presbyterian government. He departed this life within a very 
few years after his translation to Markinch. 

Mrs. Mackie was a daughter of the celebrated William Car- 
stairs, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, and relict of 
Major Eyre, who died in Ireland soon after his marriage. She 
was much esteemed for piety and good sense. She survived Mr. 
Mackie a considerable number of years. Mr. Charles Mackie, a 
son of this marriage, who became Professor of Civil History in 
the University of Edinburgh, was a man of great knowledge, 
(i modesty and integrity," and held his office from 1710 till 1765. 
See some interesting particulars respecting him in Bower's Hist, 
of the Univ. of Edinburgh, vol. ii. ch. x. pp. 140-145. 



APPENDIX. 



527 



No. IX.— Page 199. 

Almost every thing contained in the " Instructions to the El- 
ders of Portmoak," is included in the paper entitled " Questions 
agreed to by the Session 1126, to be put at least twice a-year, 
from this date." These Queries are as follows : 

" 1. Do you visit the sick in your quarter, exhort, and pray 
with them ? 

" 2. Do you inquire for Testimonials of new incomers into the 
parish ? 

" 3. Do you worship God in your family morning and evening ? 

cc 4. Do you instruct and catechise your children and family 
in the principles of religion ? 

"5. Is there any unpurged scandal in your quarter of the 
parish ? 

" 6. Do you exhort the ignorant, and children, to diligence in 
acquiring the principles of religion ? 

" 7» Do you attend the J udicatories of the Church, when ap- 
pointed ? 

" 8. Do you attend and encourage Societies for prayer and 
Christian conference ; particularly the monthly meeting of the 
Elders for that purpose ? 

" 9. Do you study to reconcile differences that occur in your 
quarter ? 

u 10. Do you recommend religion and practical godliness in 
your quarter by precept and example, and rebuke what is amiss ? 

"11. Do you study, according to Christ's command, to reclaim 
offenders in private and secret, before you delate them to the 
Session ? 

" 12. Do you make conscience of declaring your mind as to 
admitting and debarring from the Lord's Supper, when the con- 
gregational roll is read sessionally for that purpose ?" 



No. X.— Page 236. 

Mr. Erskine's letter respecting the Assembly's condemnation 
of the Marrow is understood to have been written to the Rev. 



528 



APPENDIX. 



George Gillespie of Strathmiglo. A copy of it being in the pos- 
session of the author of the Portmoak MS., it was lent to a mi- 
nister, who, in the year 1719, published it in the Christian Ma- 
gazine, (vol. xiii. pp. 376-381.) We shall here extract the more 
valuable parts of this long epistle, which are as follows : 

66 Reverend and very dear Brother, 

a I received yours by my servant. The strain of your 
letter, I own, was more wounding than convincing, But such 
smiting, I am resolved, through grace, shall not break my head, 
nor alienate my love from the smiter, of whose kindness other- 
wise I have had such convincing evidences. 

" I find you exceedingly prejudiced against the cause wherein 
I am now engaged. And, so far as I can perceive from your 
letter, it runs principally upon this ground, that you think the 
method we have taken in craving that an Act of Assembly may 
be repealed, wants a precedent, and a more suitable method -might 
have been taken. I do indeed own that the step we have taken 
is somewhat unprecedented, in craving that an Act of Assembly 
might be repealed ; but this was inevitable, seeing such an act 
wanted a precedent in the Church of Scotland, and we could see 
no way how truth, which is so evidently wounded by that act, 
could be salved but by its being repealed. And who could repeal 
an Act of Assembly, but an Assembly only ? . . . 

" Because vou say you cannot conceive what we can state our 
sufferings upon, in case the Church shall see fit to maintain her 
authority by inflicting censure upon us, who prefer censure to obe- 
dience, — I shall take the freedom to lay before you the precious 
truths of the Gospel that we contend for, as wounded by that Act 
of Assembly against which we reclaim. 

" 1. That believers are freed from the Law as the Covenant 
of Works, freed both from the commanding and condemning power 
of that Covenant. 

" 2. That there is and ought to be a difference put betwixt the 
Law as c the Law of Works' and the Law as 6 the Law of 
Christ,' or the Law as a rule of obedience in the hands of a Me- 
diator. And this distinction, we judge, goes upon a scriptural 
foundation, though declared groundless by the Act of Assembly ; 
which, we conceive, has a manifest tendency to confound the two 



APPENDIX. 



529 



Covenants, and to stop some of the principal sources of the be- 
liever's comfort. 

I "3. That when the Law, as a Covenant of Works, comes up- 
on the believer with the demand of perfect obedience as a con- 
dition of life and salvation, his only relief in this case is, to plead 
the perfect obedience and complete righteousness of his ever- 
blessed Surety ; and that this plea is so far from weakening him 
in the study of holiness, as the Act imports, that it is one of 
the principal springs thereof. 

" 4. That there is a fiducial act or appropriating persuasion in 
the very nature of justifying and saving faith. To exclude 
this from the nature of faith, is to abandon and condemn our 
Reformers and all our polemic writers, who have been ever since 
the Reformation contending as pro aris et focis against Papists 
for this fiducial act, under the name of the assurance of faith, 
which toto ccelo differs from the assurance of faith, of which our 
Westminster Confession speaks, when it excludes assurance from 
the nature of faith. And we are afraid lest our quitting of this 
act of faith be a receding from our National Covenant, where the 
6 general and doubtsome faith' of Papists is abjured. . . . 

te 5. That there is a deed of gift or grant made by the Father 
to all the hearers of the Gospel, affording warrant to ministers 
to offer Christ unto all, and a warrant unto all to receive him ; 
— which yet does not lead us to the Arminian camp. 

" These, I say, are some of the special truths we contend for 
in our Representation, as injured by that Act of Assembly. 
And had it not been for the sake of these truths, I had never 
ventured upon this appearance ; and I humbly think them of such 
worth, that I durst not quit them or refuse my testimony for 
them for the whole world, if my heart do not deceive me. . . . 
It is not so much the book we stand up for, as these precious 
truths, the condemning of which as inconsistent with the Scrip- 
tures and our standards, we humbly think to be the deepest 
wound ever truth got in Scotland since the Reformation. And 
that which makes it the deeper is, that it should be given her in 
the house of her friends, I mean a national Assembly, whose spe- 
cial province it is to patronize truth and support it. Indeed we 
do not think that the wound was designed against truth, but 
against the Rev# Mr. Hogg, who recommends the book ; but that 
2a 



530 



APPENDIX. 



truth is really wounded, (though by a bye-blow,) is so evident t£ 
us, that we cannot think otherwise, unless we abandon our com- 
mon sense, and believe as others would have us. Alas for it ! 
that the authority of our Assembly should be made a tool of, to 
push the resentments of some leading men. It is no wonder, 
though, in that case, God suffer both the leaders and them that 
are led to fall into the ditch together. . . . 

66 Woe is me that party interest should so far prevail, as to 
support an Act so evidently injurious to truth. How far is this 
from the temper of a sober heathen, whose regard to truth made 
him express himself thus ; Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed ma* 
gis arnica Veritas : (I love Plato, I love Socrates, but I have a 
greater love for truth.) Where is the spirit of that noble Re- 
former, Martin Luther, who said, Stet Veritas, etruatcmlum : (Let 
truth be maintained, be the consequences what they may.) Dear 
Sir, the peace of a national Church is a most valuable blessing, and 
I would gladly hope that none values it more than I do ; but, alas I 
what is peace but a conspiracy, if it do not stand with truth ? 
He who is the God of peace hath truth also for the girdle of his 
loins ; and he puts such a value upon the least iota of his reveals 
ed truth, that he will reduce heaven and earth to their original 
nothing, rather than suffer it to fall to the ground. How, then, 
shall we be answerable to the God of truth, if, when truth is 
wounded, we do not put to our hand to heal and support it ? If 
we quit it, we betray our trust, and give up tvith our shield and 
buckler. 

" God forbid I should be so uncharitable as to think, that 
truth hath no friends among the ministers of Scotland, but the 
few subscribers. No ; I am persuaded of the contrary ; it has 
many friends in the Church. But whatever night friends, like 
Nicodemus, it may have, yet commonly it has but two witnesses, 
(Rev. xi.) i, e. but a very few. However, it is all one with God, 
to work by few as by many ; by weak and foolish things, as by 
those that are strong and mighty. And therefore, however weak 
and contemptible we are in ourselves, while we are convinced 
that the cause is the Lord's, I hope it shall not discourage us, 
though power and policy, learning, numbers, and authority, be 

against us I shall be glad to have your thoughts as to 

what has been suggested ; for however I be engaged in this mat- 



APPENDIX. 



531 



ter, I desire to lie open to what religion and right reason may of- 
fer. I am, 

R. and very D. B. Your very affectionate Brother 
and most obliged servant, 

E. Erskine. 

This letter, we may add, is but one of many proofs which go 
to establish Mr. Erskine's zeal in the cause in question, and his 
close attention to the points at issue. We might appeal to a 
number of his sermons, as those on Heb. x. 22 ; Is. ii. 3 ; and 
Is. xlii. 21. It may also be stated, that we have seen a note- 
book, written chiefly by Mr. Fisher of Glasgow, which contains, 
among other articles, a copy of an Essay by Mr. Erskine entitled, 
H Arguments proving that there are no precepts in the Gospel, 
strictly and properly so called, which were not formerly com- 
manded in the Moral Law." It is concluded with references to 
a numerous " List of divines confirming the foregoing doctrine." 
He names, among others, " Rutherford on the Covenant, p. 191. 
Burgess's Vindicia Legis, p. 262. Perkins on Matt. iii. 17* 
Prof, Leydenses Syn. pur. Theol. Disp. 22. Turret. Theol* 
Log. xiv. § 8, 9. Mastricht. Theol. Theor. Pract. Lib. v. cap* 
i. § 30. Witsii Animad. Iren. cap. xv. § 8, 9. Calvini In- 
stit. Lib. ii. cap. ix. § 2. The essay extends to nine pages 12mo. 
in short-hand characters ; and the following words are written at 
the close by Mr. Fisher : " Taken out of a Manuscript by my 
beloved friend, Master Eben. Erskine, 1726." 



No. XI.— Page 487. 

The design of this " Abridgment" of Mr. Erskine's sermons is 
thus expressed in the last sentence of the Preface : " It is hoped 
that this work will be one great means of diffusing useful know- 
ledge among the lower community, especially those who are lay 
preachers in the different bodies of Methodists." The author 
testifies his respect for Mr. Erskine in the following terms : " It 
will be readily acknowledged by those who peruse his writings, 



532 



APPENDIX. 



that he was an able minister of the Gospel. He made choice 
of the most interesting subjects ; and it was his peculiar delight 
to preach Christ crucified, and to exalt his name." He lauds him 
also as possessing " a dextrous faculty in ransacking the plagues 
of the heart, and describing the diveisified circumstances of se- 
rious and exercised souls." With a view to recommend his own 
Abridgment, however, he represents " many" of the original ser- 
mons as u tedious, and consisting of much tautology." To us it 
appears, on the contrary, that though some of them do admit of 
abridgment, they are by no means chargeable with tautology, 
or injured " by a multiplicity of words," to the extent alleged. 
But we complain of this anonymous abridger, chiefly for the li- 
berties he has taken with regard to the doctrinal statements of 
the original. For the satisfaction of his readers, he states ex- 
pressly in his preface, that " all the strong expressions of uncon* 
ditional election and reprobation are transformed !" Now we 
are not aware that Mr. Erskine teaches the doctrine of absolute 
and unconditional decrees, either in an unscriptural or repulsive 
manner. "While he maintains the sovereignty of the blessed God, 
who " has mercy on whom he will have mercy," he strictly guards 
his hearers against every abuse of that doctrine ; and very few 
preachers or authors have, with equal perspicuity and zeal, ex- 
hibited that free and full access to the Saviour, which the gospel 
affords to sinners, without distinction or exception. Even 
though his views had been erroneous, or though his mode of il- 
lustrating the mysterious subject of Divine decrees had been 
wrong, it would have been quite unjustifiable to alter his ex- 
pressions. An abridger, it is true, is not entitled to blame for 
subjoining a few notes, corrective of sentiments in the original, 
of which he disapproves. But to " transform the expressions" of 
an author, whether living or dead, to make him employ terms 
or utter ideas at variance with his real belief, is a species of in- 
termeddling altogether indefensible. However frequently it may 
have been practised, it bears a close affinity to the crime of doing 
evil that good may come ; and ought to be entirely avoided by all 
who make any pretensions to Christian sincerity and candour, or 
who resolve to do as they would be done by. "Were an abridger mere- 
ly to omit choice passages of an original, because they do not exactly 



APPENDIX, 



533 



tally with his own views, he would still be guilty of an act of in- 
justice, both to the author and the readers. To produce only one 
example, an omission of this kind occurs in the very first sermon 
of the " Series" in question, via. a discourse on Luke xvii. 21, in 
which an excellent " word of consolation and advice" at the close, 
addressed to those in whose hearts the kingdom of God has been 
set up, is wholly passed over ; for this reason, probably, that it 
explicitly involves the doctrine of the final perseverance of all 
genuine converts — a doctrine denied by the Rev. John Wesley 
and his followers. It is hoped that if any other Abridgment of 
Ebenezer Erskine's works shall be attempted, it will be under* 
taken by a person whose sentiments are more in unison with 
those of the original. 



No. XII.— Page 499. 

Short accounts of Mr. Fisher of Glasgow, and Mr. Scott 
of Gateshall, who were both sons-in-law to Mr. Erskine, are 
presented to the reader. The former has another and a no 
less powerful claim on attention, as one of the three Brethren 
that were his original coadjutors in the cause of the Secession. 
To have introduced in a separate chapter, considerably larger 
notices of all the Ministers who were deposed with him by the 
Assembly 1740, would have gratified our feelings, and accorded 
with our design. This part of the plan, however, has been 
waived ; partly because its execution would have swelled this 
volume beyond its proper limits ; and principally because the 
religious public have a right to expect, instead of brief notices, 
ample memoirs, of all, or nearly all those brethren. Let a few 
cursory statements respecting them, meantime, suffice. 

The Rev. William Wilson - of Perth, and Alexander 
Moncrieff of Abernethy, have been explicitly mentioned as 
associated, from the first, with Messrs. Erskine and Fisher. We 
have seen them protesting against the sentence of the Synod of 
Perth and Stirling p. 362, and against the sentence of Assem- 
bly confirming the decision of the Synod p. 366. We have no- 
ticed also their joint representation in August 1773, to that 



534 



APPENDIX. 



Commission of Assembly, by which the four protesting- Brethren 
were suspended from the exercise of the sacred office ; and their 
concern in the subsequent transactions pp. 367-376, 260. 

For a circumstantial account of the life and character of Mr, 
Wilsox, we refer with much pleasure to the valuable " Me- 
moirs" of him lately published by his great-grand-son, the Rev. 
Andrew Ferrier of Newart-hill. We may simply state a few 
facts. Mr. Wilson was born in Glasgow, Nov. 9, 1690. His 
father, Mr. Gilbert Wilson, who was a sufferer in the cause of 
religion, named him William, after King William III. of illus- 
trious memory. He was licensed by Mr. Ralph Erskine as Mo- 
derator of the Presbytery of Dunfermline on the 23d of Septr. 
1713, and ordained at Perth, to which he had a unanimous call, 
on the 1st Nov. 1716.- His appointment and success as Pro- 
fessor of Divinity have been noticed p. 431. His services to the 
Secession Church were numerous and important. He had the 
chief hand in preparing both the first and the second Testimo- 
nies* His able " Defence of the Reformation Principles" has 
been repeatedly referred to pp. 223-4, 317, 403. His published 
sermons are pious and judicious. His admirers will be happy 
to see the two following extracts, which are not included in the 
" Memoirs" just referred to. The one, which is copied from 
Mr. Fisher's domestic Record, relates to Mr. Wilson's last pub- 
lic service, and is thus expressed. " Our two children, Mar- 
garet and James, were born at Perth, Saturday Oct. 31, 1741, 
about three in the morning. They were baptized next day, 
being Sabbath, Nov. 1st, by Mr. William Wilson, minister at 
Perth ; which was the last piece of public ministerial work per- 
formed by that eminent servant of Jesus Christ. He died Nov. 
14, 1741." The other extract is taken from Mrs. Balderston 
of Edinburgh's Diary, and serves to show the estimation in 
which he was held by the pious, as a Preacher who united a 
commanding majesty with a heavenly sweetness and mildness. 
" Feb. 27, 1772. Heard that Mr. Wilson of Perth was to preach 
in his mother's-in-law, [Mrs. Alexander.] I went away re- 
joicing , . * He spoke upon the 73d Psalm, especially verses 
23 — 25. But as he went along the whole Psalm, / heard God 
speaking out of the man ; and as if I had told him every thing 



APPENDIX. 



535 



of my case and exercise, he was made directly to speak of it." 
Early and persevering devotedness to the service of God, decided 
superiority to worldly views and motives, studious habits com- 
bined with practical wisdom, gravity tempered with cheerfulness, 
firmness and zeal united with genuine moderation, and indefa- 
. tigable industry in the work of his divine Master, were signally 
exemplified in the character of this distinguished man. In the 
year 1721, he married Miss Margaret Alexander, who gave birth 
to a numerous family, three of whom reached maturity — the 
Rev. John Wilson of Methven ; Isabella, who married 
the Rev. John Muckersie, Kinkell ; and Mary, who gave her 
hand to the Rev. William Jameson of Kilwinning. 

With regard to Mr. Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, 
the reader will find valuable information in the Christian Ma- 
gazine, Vol. viii. pp. 89-96, 133-140 ; and in the account of his 
daughter, Mrs. Hutchinson, in the Memoirs of Pious Women, 
Vol. iii. From these and other sources, we could have given 
many interesting particulars regarding this excellent man. But 
having learned that a full Memoir of him may soon be expected^ 
we shall satisfy ourselves with a few notices, from which it will 
appear, that his history well deserves to be minutely detailed. 
Mr. Moncrieff was born in July 1695. His parents, Matthew 
Moncrieff of Culfargie, a considerable estate on the banks of the 
Earne, and Margaret Mitchell, gave him the name of his vener- 
able grand-father, Mr. Alexander Moncrieff of Scoonie ; (com- 
pare pp. 209, 210.) and it pleased God to imbue him with a con- 
siderable portion of that worthy minister's spirit. In early life 
he became the subject of deep convictions, and obtained reviving 
discoveries of the plan of salvation. The profession of a mini- 
ster was his own cordial and decided choice. " Do not I long, 
O Lord," he says in his Diary, " if thou wilt give me thine own 
call and be with me, to have the happiness of commending Christ 
to others. Oh commend him effectually to my own soul." After 
studying philosophy and divinity at St. Andrews, he repaired to* 
Leyden in Sept. 1716, where, under the celebrated Marckius. 
he prosecuted theological researches for a year. Having then 
returned to Scotland, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Perth ;~ 
and having received a call to the parish of Abernethy, he was- 



536 



APPENDIX. 



ordained there in Sept. 1720. His zeal and faithfulness were 
displayed alike in the discharge of pastoral duty, and in his 
more public appearances in the cause of religion. He published 
a learned treatise in vindication of the proper Deity of Christ. 
After his expulsion from the National church, a great body of 
his parishioners still adhered to his ministry ; and their number 
being increased by accessions from contiguous parishes, they 
built a large house, in which he preached the Gospel to a nu- 
merous congregation. Being chosen, as we have seen, p. 476, 
to succeed Mr. Wilson as Professor of Theology, he discharged 
this important trust with great fidelity for twenty years. His 
views and conduct in reference to the breach which took place 
in 1747 are well known, and have been slightly adverted to 
p. 451. During the Rebellion 1745-6, he and his family suffered 
distressing annoyance from the followers of Charles ; but nothing 
could induce him to desist from expressing his detestation of 
their cause, and from praying publicly for King George II. in 
their hearing, In January 31, 1749, he had the felicity to 
receive his son Matthew for his colleague. After an illness of 
a few days, he died, praising the God of bis salvation, on the 
7th Oct. 1761, in the 67th year of his age, and 42nd of his mi- 
nistry. In the year 1722, he married Mary, a daughter of 
Sir J ohn Clerk of Pennycuik, who became mother to Matthew 
his eldest son, and to two daughters, but lived with him only a 
few years. Sometime after her decease, he was united to Jane, 
daughter of the Rev. William Lyon, minister of Airlie, who had 
fifteen children, and survived her husband thirty years. His 
second son, Mr. William Moncrieff, who was ordained at Alloa 
March 14, 1749, succeeded his father in the theological chair, 
and retained that charge till his death, which happened August 
4, 1786. Mr. Alexander Moncrieff was a very evangelical and 
animated preacher. Mr. Ralph Erskine has the following ex- 
pression in his Diary respecting a sermon he heard him deliver 
at Burntisland in 1732 : " Mr. Moncrieff preached on that word, 
6 The promise is to you, and to your children,' a most Gospel 
sermon, with which my heart was refreshed." He was emi- 
nently given to ejaculatory prayer. Such was his courage that 
his friend Mr. Wilson described him as having " the face of a 
Hon." His generosity was singular, and in some instances per-: 



APPENDIX. 



537 



haps carried to excess. Providence having otherwise furnished 
him with a competent income, he refused to accept of any 
remuneration for his services, either as the Pastor of an associate 
Congregation, or as a Professor of Theology. His Sermons and 
Tracts were collected and published in two volumes, in the year 
1779. 

The Rev. Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, one of the Four 
Brethren who subsequently joined the first Four, has been often 
mentioned in the course of these memoirs of his Father and 
Brother. We have had occasion to advert to his birth, p. 20 ; 
his baptism, 53 ; impressions at his father's death, 36 ; his pious 
conference at Portmoak, 82 ; license, 147 ; prayer before admi- 
nistering the Lord's Supper, 159 ; taking part in the Marrow 
Controversy, 238, 246 ; letter to his brother Philip, 42 ; sympa- 
thy with a dying sister, 273 ; notes of pious sayings from the 
lips of the first Mrs. Erskine of Portmoak, and his sermon on 
her death, 295-6; death of Margaret Dewar, his first wife, 314; 
elegy on Mr. Hamilton, 338 ; his protest against the suspension 
of the Four Brethren, 369 ; presence at their meeting at Gairney- 
bridge, 371 ; accession to the Associate Presbytery, 374, 419 ; 
his proposal to Mr. Whitefield, 426 ; his death, 454 ; the ordina- 
tion of his son James at Stirling, 455 A separate Life of Mr. 

Ralph being intended, we make no addition at present to these 
particulars. Further accounts of him may be seen in the Pre- 
faces to his Works, and in Brown's Gospel Truth. 

- Some allusions have also been made to the remaining three 
Brethren, the Rev. Thomas Mair of Orwell, Thomas Nairn 
of Abbots-hall, and James Thomson of Burntisland. See pp. 
355, 369, 371, 374-6, 419, 433. But we shall add a few notices 
respecting each of them distinctly. 

The Rev. Thomas Mair, minister of the parish of Orwell r 
near Kinross, was the immediate successor of Mr. James Bath- 
gate, who died in March 1724. (Compare p. 210.) We have not 
ascertained the particular time or place of his birth ; but have 
been told that he was a nephew of the Rev. George Mair of Cul- 
ross. According to his own statement to Mr. Adam Gibb, too, 
(See Display, vol. ii. p. 131, note) it appears that when a boy at 



538 



APPENDIX. 



school, he and one of his sisters were employed to transcribe part 
of a Treatise on Justifying Faith, ascribed to Mr. James Fraser 
of Brae, one of the ministers of that town. Possibly, then, he 
was a native of the parish of Culross, and privileged in early life 
to sit under the ministry of Messrs. Mair and Fraser. He seems, 
at least, to have adopted generally the evangelical sentiments of 
these good men, and to have imbibed a portion of their devotional 
spirit. He was esteemed a conscientious Christian, and a faith- 
ful pastor ; somewhat severe in the exercise of discipline ; skilful 
in searching the plagues and exposing the deceits of the human 
heart, yet prepared to exhibit with affectionate earnestness the 
sovereign remedy for the diseased soul. His hearers remarked 
that he first made them utterly naked and helpless, and then 
placed clearly before them the all- sufficiency of Christ as their 
righteousness and strength. A particular intimacy seems to 
have been long maintained betwixt Mr. Mair and Mr. Ralph Er- 
skine, who often corresponded with him at Sacramental solemni- 
ties, and occasionally spent a night with him at Orwell, on his 
way home from the meetings of the Synod of Fife at Cupar. 
Mr, Erskine, in a passage of his Diary, written immediately af- 
ter his return from Orwell, remarks that he had found " his con- 
versation useful and edifying." These two ministers, we have 
seen, pp. 371, 419, acted in concert when they left the Judicato- 
ries of the Church of Scotland, and, on the 18th Feb. 1737, acceded 
to the Associate Presbytery. (See Mr, Mair's Declaration of 
Secession, with Mr. R. Erskine's adherence to it in the Re-ex- 
hibition, pp. 154-166.) Mr. Mair wa£ accustomed to exert him- 
self with great activity in behalf of arty object which he consi- 
dered worthy of his zeal. As Moderator of the Associate Pres- 
bytery, he occupied a conspicuous place at their appearance be- 
fore the Assembly 1739, (p. 375.) In the controversy respecting 
the Burgess Oath, he embraced views contrary to those that were 
held by his old neighbours and friends, the Messrs. Erskine; 
and discovered singular keenness for a time. In consequence, 
however, of being accused of error with regard to the extent 
of redemption, a difference took place between him and that Sy- 
nod, to which he had adhered at the breach 1747* His avowed 
partiality for Mr. Fraser's Treatise on Faith, published in 1749, 
which contains some unguarded statements on that topic, gave 



APPENDIX. 



539 



occasion to the charge. To prevent the spread of those errors, 
the Synod, on the 18th April, 1754, passed an Act on the sub- 
ject of universal redemption. Mr. Mair having dissented from 
the Act, and proving firmly attached to his own views spite of 
all their attempts to reclaim him, they suspended him in August 
1 755, and deposed him in April 17 57. While the Synod published 
an illustration and defence of their procedure in this cause, Mr. 
Mair also gave to the world his Reasons of Dissent from their 
Act of April 1754 ; in which, though he expresses his approba- 
tion of the scope and substance of Mr. Fraser's Treatise, he 
states that he did not adopt it without exception — that it con- 
tained some passages which he did not understand, and others of 
which he did not approve. He published subsequently, " The 
Case laid open ; or an Essay to satisfy those who desire informa- 
tion anent the strange Breach betwixt the Associate Synod and 
Mr. Mair." Notwithstanding the measures which his Synod 
adopted towards him, he retained the confidence and affection of 
his congregation. He survived ten years, but, so far as we 
know, continued to stand alone ; no reconciliation having taken 
place between him and those associate ministers by whom he was 
deposed. His affections seemed now to return to that party of 
them, whom a little before he had vehemently withstood. It is 
affirmed that, on going home from the meeting of Synod 1757, 
"he publicly condemned, and lamented over the proceedings 
against the separating Brethren, in which he had acted a very 
distinguished part." (Gibb's Display, vol, ii. pp. 131-191.) 
This express statement by the Rev. Adam Gibb, exactly accords 
with the tradition, that Mr. Mair on that occasion held peniten- 
tial language to this effect ; " We are verily guilty concerning 
our Brethren ;" and that he said on his death-bed, tc We made 
use of the sword, when we should only have employed the scab- 
bard." He seems to have died in the year 1767- According to 
an elegy by an unlettered muse, engraven on a Stone erected to 
his memory in the Church -yard of Orwell, his ministry lasted 
" twice twenty years." In 1768, u at the earnest desire of his 
Session and Congregation," a course of sermons which he had 
preached in 1728 on " A Covenant of Duty nowise inconsistent 
with a Covenant of Grace," was published for the benefit of his 
Widow, who is said to have been a woman of eminent piety and 



540 



APPENDIX. 



prudence. We are assured that he wrote a private Diary of his 
life and experience ; but do not know with certainty into whose 
hands it has now fallen. In the " Memoirs of the Public Life 
of Mr. James Hogg," Mr. Mair is mentioned, in the "Preface 
by the Editor," the late Rev. Archibald Bruce of Whitburn, as 
having been the possessor of the manuscript copy of Mr. Hogg's 
" Testamentary Memorial," from which the materials of that 
curious narrative were extracted. 

The Rev. Thomas Nairn was a son of the Rev. Samuel 
Nairn, a worthy minister in the north of Fife, who lived to see 
him invested with the sacred office. He received his license from 
the Presbytery of Cupar, and was ordained minister of the pa- 
rish of Abbots-hall by the Presbytery of Kirkaldy, Sep. 7? 1710. 
His talents were very respectable ; and, though his conduct in 
future years was not always guided by the dictates of prudence, 
he appears to have greatly endeared himself to his people at the 
commencement of his ministry. When a Presbyterial visitation 
took place at "Abbots -hall Kirk, Sep. 11, 1712," highly favourable 
accounts were given of his diligence and faithfulness, " and the 
Presbytery are well satisfied to hear of such a good understand- 
ing between the minister and the people of the place." (Rec. of 
Kirk. Presb.) For nearly twenty years he was a co-presbyter of 
Mr. Ebenezer Erskine's ; and in most instances he concurred 
with him in his views of ecclesiastical procedure. His accession 
to the Associate Presbytery, according to an entry in Mr. 
Ralph Erskine's Diary, was given at a meeting of that court in 
Mr. Wilson's house at Perth, the 12th October, 1737. Within 
less than six years after that date, however, in consequence of 
having espoused the principles of the Old Dissenters relative to 
the existing civil government, he withdrew from the communion 
of the Seceders. Disapproving on various grounds of the Act for 
renewing the Covenants, he presented, on the 3d Feb. 1743, 
Reasons of Dissent from that Act, and of Secession from the As- 
sociate Presbytery. Answers to these Reasons, with a declara- 
tion of the Presbytery's principles respecting the present civil 
government, were formally approved, Sep. 29, 1743, and soon 
after published. A large account of this affair may be seen in 
Gibb's Display, vol. i. pp. 257-344. On the 1st August, 1743, 



APPENDIX. 



541 



the Reformed Presbytery was constituted by Mr. John Macmil- 
lan and Mr. Nairn. Some parts of his behaviour, nevertheless, 
having given offence to the other members of that Presbytery, 
Mr. Nairn deserted their communion, and returned to the fellow - 
ship of the Established Church. After making humiliating 
confessions to the Presbytery of Kirkaldy, and submitting to their 
admonitions, (Rec. of Kirk. Presb.) he was admitted to Christian 
privileges in May 1751. We have not been able to learn the 
precise time of his birth, or of his death. 

The Secession found a brighter ornament, and a more steady 
supporter, in the Rev. James Thomson of Burntisland, who 
acceded to the Associate Presbytery on the 1st June, 1738. He 
was the son of a respectable farmer, and born at Finmonth, in 
the parish of Kinglassie, about the year 1682. From his child- 
hood he discovered a pious and a literary spirit. A decided 
predilection for the Christian ministry, which he had early form- 
ed, enabled him to overcome a variety of difficulties and discou- 
ragements, which would have subdued a less vigorous and reso- 
lute mind. His father having removed to a farm in the parish 
of Markinch, he received the first rudiments of learning in the 
parochial school of that village. He then prosecuted his studies 
at the University, probably, of St. Andrews. He was licensed 
to preach the Gospel sometime before July 1715. In the month 
of July 17 18, he was called to the parish of Ballingry ; (Rec. of 
Kirk. Presb.) but, owing to a want of harmony created by the 
strenuous exertions of a few individuals in favour of another 
candidate, the call was set aside. (Comp. p. 355.) Having af- 
terwards received a call to Burntisland, he was ordained minister 
of that parish, May 7, 1719 ; Mr. Nairn of Abbots-hall presiding 
in the transaction. He married a daughter of the Rev. Joseph 
Drew, who, in the year 1708, was translated from Markinch to 
St. Andrews, where he was admitted minister of St. Leonard's, 
and Principal of St. Leonard's College. Mrs. Thomson, who left 
no children, having died several years before her husband, her 
sister, Miss Drew, resided with him till his death — At the time 
of Mr. Thomson's settlement, owing to some unhappy circum- 
tances which had previously occurred, there was an Episcopal 
meeting-house at Burntisland that was frequented by the greater 
2 B 



542 



APPENDIX. 



part of the population. His ministry, however, was very suc- 
cessful in collecting the scattered flock, and in promoting their 
peace and edification. Within a few Sabbaths after his ordina- 
tion, the people almost universally returned to the parish church, 
and the English service was discontinued. An attempt made a 
few years after to revive the cause of Episcopacy, proved quite 
abortive. " There could not be got so much as the face of a 
meeting." These circumstances are modestly stated by Mr. 
Thomson himself, in a letter he wrote to Mr. Wilson of Perth, 
for the purpose of vindicating himself against a calumnious re- 
presentation of his settlement, which one had ventured to pro- 
pagate subsequently to his becoming a Seceder. (See this letter 
in Wilson's Continuation of a Defence, &c. pp. 25-27.) 

The high estimation in which this deserving minister was held 
in his parish, is strongly marked by the circumstances which 
occurred after the Assembly's sentence of deposition, 1740. Mr. 
Andrew Black, the parochial teacher, refused to comply with the 
orders of the Presbytery, enjoining him to give official intima- 
tion to the Elders of the Assembly's sentence ; and, after thrice 
disobeying their reiterated injunction to that effect, was himself, 
for his alleged contumacy, deposed from the office of Schoolmaster 
and Session Clerk at Burntisland, (Rec. of Kirk. Presb.) No 
person could be found in the parish that would dare to lock the 
church-door against Mr. Thomson. Both the Presbytery and 
the General Assembly were mortified at the obstructions that 
opposed and retarded the execution of their sentences. At last, 
in the year 1743, after urgent applications to the highest civil 
authorities in the kingdom, a messenger was sent from Cupar, 
by the Sheriff of Fife, to lock the doors, and deprive him of his 
Church. Though he was succeeded by a Mr. Robert Spears, 
a highly popular minister, translated from Linlithgow, a great 
proportion of the parishioners joined Mr. Thomson in secession. 
On occasion of the unhappy rupture 1747 3 he took the same 
side with Messrs. Moncrieff and Gibb. After an active and use- 
ful life, he entered into the joy of his Lord in 1766, in the 82d 
year of his age, and the 47th of his ministry. 

Mr. Thomson was universally regarded as a man of distin- 
guished piety and good sense. He maintained through life the 
habit of rising at a very early hour. After devoting the morning 



APPENDIX. 



543 



to study and spiritual exercises, it was his practice to recreate 
himself by walking in the open air, and to make pastoral and 
friendly visits to his people at their houses. By our esteemed 
friend, the Rev. David Ross, the present minister of the United 
Associate Congregation of Burntisland, to whom we are indebted 
for part of these notices respecting Mr. Thomson, — we are in- 
formed, that it appears his labours were abundantly blessed, from 
the sincere piety of many that were educated under his ministry, 
and whose memory is still fragrant in that place- He gave de- 
cided evidence of a liberal and disinterested spirit. When his 
meeting-house was erected, he not only presented his people with 
a piece of ground for its site, but sustained a considerable share 
of the expense of the building. By his last will, too, he be- 
queathed to them his manse and garden, with a goodly number 
of his books, for the use of his successors in office. W e have not 
seen or heard of any publications by Mr. Thomson. His Note- 
books, however, some of which we have had the satisfaction to 
examine, are carefully written in common hand, and sufficiently 
demonstrate the pious solicitude he felt to make his hearers 
thoroughly acquainted with " the whole counsel of God." May 
the excellent spirit of this truly good man universally actuate 
and adorn the ministers of the Secession, and of every Christian 
Church ! 



THE END. 



J. THOMSON, Printer, Milne Square, Edinburgh. 



WORKS 



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Belfrage's (Rev. Dr.) Portrait of John the Baptist; or, an Il- 
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Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Com- 
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Life of the Rev. Thomas Boston. 18mo, bds. 3s. 6d. 

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